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.

complete verse (Ezekiel 33:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 33:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “When that man sees the enemy coming he will blow a horn in order to warn everybody.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When that one-who-watches sees that the enemies are now approaching, he will-sound the trumpet to warn the people.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “if he sees the enemy army coming to attack his country, and he blows a trumpet to warn the people,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 33:3 - 33:4

The conditional (“if”) clauses continue in these two verses.

And if he sees the sword coming upon the land: New Century Version renders this clause well, saying “When he sees the enemy coming to attack the land.”

And blows the trumpet and warns the people: The watchman blows a horn to warn his people about the approaching enemy. The Hebrew word for trumpet refers to a wind instrument made from the horn of an animal, usually a male sheep. It was not the same as the modern metal trumpet. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “horn.” In ancient Israel this animal horn was used to call people to worship, to war, or to any communal activity. Translators may use a local equivalent if one is available (for example, “conch shell”), provided it is an instrument that someone blows into to make a noise and it is used to gain people’s attention or to warn them of danger. If there is no real equivalent, then translators may use a very generic expression for these two clauses, such as “and sounds the instrument that warns the people,” “and sounds the alarm to warn the people” (similarly New Living Translation), or “and sounds a warning signal” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Then if any one who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning: This conditional clause refers to someone who ignores the sound of the horn warning the people of the attack. New Century Version says “If they hear the sound of the trumpet but do nothing,” Contemporary English Version has “If any of these people hear the signal and ignore it,” and New International Reader’s Version translates “Someone hears the trumpet. But he does not pay any attention to the warning.”

And the sword comes and takes him away means the enemy attacks and kills those who ignore the warning. New International Reader’s Version says “The enemies come and kill him.”

His blood shall be upon his own head means those who ignore the warning will be responsible for their own deaths. New International Reader’s Version says “Then what happens to him will be his own fault” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). This clause is the final result of the long conditional sentence. As noted above, translators may break up the sentence to avoid the string of conditional clauses (so Good News Translation). A model that does this for verse 4 is:

• Anyone who hears the warning but ignores it, when the enemies come and kill him, it will be his own fault.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .