Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps.
- BSB “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.
- NKJV “Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps.
- NASB “Make yourself two trumpets of silver, you shall make them of hammered work; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and breaking camp.
- NLT “Make two trumpets of hammered silver for calling the community to assemble and for signaling the breaking of camp.
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
God commands two silver trumpets, hammered from beaten work, to summon the people and signal the camps to move. They were instruments for ordering the whole nation.
Overview
The trumpets gave God a means to call and direct the vast camp in an orderly way. Made of silver and beaten work, they served both assembly and journey, reflecting God's concern that His people gather and move together in unity and order under His guidance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Joel 1:14Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.
- Isa 1:13Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
- Ps 81:3Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
- 2 Chr 5:12Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)
- Eph 4:5One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
- Hos 8:1Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
- Num 10:7But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm.
- Ps 89:15Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
- Exod 25:18And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
- Exod 25:31And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
- 2 Kgs 12:13Howbeit there were not made for the house of the LORD bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD:
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 10:2 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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