For if the trumpet gave an uncertain sound, who would prepare himself for war?
Parallel translations
- KJV For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
- BSB Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?
- NKJV For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?
- NASB For if the trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle?
- NLT And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If a trumpet gives an unclear sound, no one prepares for battle. Unclear communication leaves people unready to respond.
Overview
Paul adds a second illustration: a war trumpet must sound a clear call for soldiers to act. An indistinct signal produces confusion and inaction. Applied to the church, this shows that unintelligible speech cannot summon believers to faith and obedience, so the gifts must be used clearly for the good of all.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Num 10:9When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before Yahweh your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.
- Ezek 33:3–6if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
- Jer 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can’t hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
- Isa 27:13It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
- Job 39:24–25He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
- Amos 3:6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
- Joel 2:1Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:
- Neh 4:18–21Among the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me.
- Eph 6:11–18Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
- Judg 7:16–18He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.
- Josh 6:4–20Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
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Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 14:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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