horn

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “(ram’s) horn” or “trumpet” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yakan: tabuli’ (big sea shell used to give signals) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Apal: “bamboo bugle” (source: Martha Wade in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 26ff.)
  • Tibetan “yak’s horn” (a traditional instrument in Tibetan culture) (source: David Clark in Clark / Desnitsky 2009 , p. 23)
  • Mairasi / Bariai: “Triton shell trumpet” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German Luther translation: Posaune, today: “trombone,” originally with the meaning of a wind instrument made from cow horn (from Latin bucina [bovi- / “cow” + the root of cano / “sing”]. Incidentally, bucina is also used in the Latin Vulgate translation). By the time of Luther’s translation it referred to the natural trumpet or a fanfare trumpet (see also trumpet). Once the meaning morphed to “trombone” in the 19th century, trombone ensembles started to play a central role in Protestant German churches and do so to the present day. In 2016, “Posaunenchöre” became added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list . (Note that Exodus 19:13 is the only exception in the Luther Bible. From the 1956 revision on, Widderhorn or “ram’s horn” is used here) (source: Zetzsche)

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The horn was a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep.

Usage: The animal horn was softened so that it could be shaped. The point of the horn was cut off to leave a small opening through which the user blew. The vibration of the lips produced the sound.

The ram’s horn served two general purposes:

1. It was blown in certain religious contexts, not as musical accompaniment to worship but as a signal for important events. Some of these events were the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, the Day of Atonement, the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the coronation of kings.

2. It also served as a signal or alarm when war was approaching. Such references are particularly common in the prophetic books, when the prophets are calling the people to repent (Hosea 5:8; 8:1; Joel 2:1; 2:15; Amos 3:6).

Translation: In many passages the purpose of the ram’s horn called shofar in Hebrew was to sound an alarm. This will be easy to express in those cultures where the horns of animals are used as musical instruments to give signals to large groups of people. In other cultures it may be possible to find another instrument that is used for an equivalent purpose. In some languages, for example, instruments such as bells or drums are the warnings for war. Some translations have transliterated the word shofar. Unless the instrument is well known, such a borrowing should normally be accompanied by a footnote or a glossary entry.

In some passages it will be necessary to expand the translation in order to indicate that the blowing of the ram’s horn was not just for music; for example, in Ezekiel 7:14 Contemporary English Version has “A signal has been blown on the trumpet,” and the German Contemporary English Version says “An alarm is sounded” [elsewhere, the same German version refers to the horns as Kriegshörner or “war horns.”]

Man blowing ram’s horn (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

Moses on Mount Sinai

Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.

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complete verse (Exodus 19:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 19:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “No one should even touch that person with his hands but he is to be stoned or shot with arrows. If any person or an animal touches the mountain, it is to be killed. Only when (a) ram’s horn is blown to sound from far, is when people will start to come nearer to that mountain.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot to death with arrows. Whether man or animal are to be killed.Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up to the mountain.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “whether person or animal. He/she will-be-killed by-means-of stoning or shooting-with-arrows; no one is-to-touch him/her. The people can- only -climb-up/go-up to the mountain when the trumpet has now sounded/blown a long (sound/blast).’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “But you (pl.) can’t/mustn’t strike him with your hands. You must strike him with stones, or shoot him with and arrow. If a human or any animal oversteps this boundary, you must kill him like that. And when you (pl.) hear the triton shell sound, right then, ascend and come to the mountain.’ ’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “They must kill him with stone or bow. you must not (imp.) him body touch. Even though he be man, even though it be animal, they must kill him thus.› But, when you will heard cry of war horn, that is when I will permit it for people, they might approach [this direction] mountain [body].»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Do not let anyone touch any person or any animal that touches the mountain. You must kill any person or animal that touches the mountain by throwing stones at it or shooting it with arrows. But when you hear a long loud trumpet sound, the people can come close to the base of the mountain.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 19:13

No hand shall touch him is a strong prohibition meaning that no one is permitted to touch anyone who has touched the mountain. This is because that person has become taboo, or untouchable, as a result of touching the mountain. Therefore he shall be stoned or shot is the same emphatic form as in verse 12. Literally the Hebrew says “stoning he shall be stoned, or shooting he shall be shot.” This means that he must be killed, but it must be done in such a way that no one touches him in the process, either before or after he dies. To be stoned means that stones were thrown at the victim until he died. To be shot means to be shot with arrows. In languages that do not use the passive voice, one may say “people must either throw stones at him until he dies or shoot him with arrows. No one can touch him.” It is also possible to say “No one may touch him. They must kill him either by throwing stones at him or shooting him with arrows.”

Whether beast or man includes animals as well. The word for beast means any animal in general. Man does not mean only male, so New Revised Standard Version has “whether animal or human being.” Good News Translation interchanges the terms for a more natural order, “both people and animals.” He shall not live is the same prohibitive form as that used in the Ten Commandments.

When the trumpet sounds a long blast is literally “in extending the ram’s horn.” This was a horn made from the horn of an animal, usually a ram. This kind of horn produced a loud blast when blown. (A different word for the noun is used in verse 16, but the meaning is the same.) It was not a musical instrument but was used for calling people to war or for announcing special events. In cultures that use horns of animals for this purpose, one may use the local word. However, in cultures where such instruments are unknown, one may need to transliterate the word trumpet. A picture of a ram’s horn trumpet should be provided, along with a note in the Glossary. It is not certain who was blowing the trumpet, so in languages that must make the agent of the blowing explicit, one may say, for example, “When someone blows the trumpet.” In other languages it is also possible to say “When the people hear the sound of the trumpet.”

They shall come up to the mountain is literally “they will ascend on [or, in] the mountain.” It is not clear to whom they refers. If it refers to the people, then it seems to conflict with the warning in verses 12-13. If it refers to the privileged group of people mentioned in 24.9, then this verse may be out of place, for this group has not yet been mentioned. Some interpret “ascend on the mountain” to mean “then the people are to go up to the mountain” (Good News Translation). (Similar are New American Bible, New International Version, Childs, and Durham.) Others suggest that the taboo is lifted when the trumpet sounds, so New Revised Standard Version has changed to “they may go up on the mountain” (so also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and others). What is probably intended is that the people could move up to the boundary line that would be set (verse 12), so translators are encouraged to follow Good News Translation.

The difference between come up to and “go up to” in English may be significant in some languages where the location of the speaker must be indicated. Since Yahweh is pictured here as either above or on the top of the mountain, then come should be used rather than “go.” This concludes Yahweh’s third speech.

The order of the final two clauses may be changed as follows: “You may come up to the mountain only after you have heard the trumpet blown.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• No one may touch this person. But they must kill him either by throwing stones at him until he dies or shooting him with arrows. This applies to both humans and animals. They must be killed. But when you hear the sound of the trumpet, you may come up to the mountain.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .