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)
  • 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 (Joshua 6:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 6:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “When the men heard those horns being blown, they shouted loudly! Then the wall collapsed right away. Each of those men headed for that wall from every corner and fought.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The priests blew sheep horn trumpets. As soon as they heard its sound, the people shouted loudly. Just at that time the walls of the city collapsed. So all the people advanced and went straight into the city and conquered it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The priests sounded their trumpets/horns, and the Israelinhon shouted loudly when they heard this. The stone-walls of the city crumbled/collapsed/fell-down completely and they attacked. They were-able-to-go-in without hindrance, and they seized the city/took- the city -by-force.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So they did what Joshua told them to do. When the priests blew a long blast on their trumpets, the people/army shouted loudly, and the wall of the city collapsed! Then the Israeli soldiers rushed in and captured the city.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 6:20

In verse 16 it is stated that “the priests were about to sound the trumpets,” which was then followed by Joshua’s detailed instructions to the people (verses 17-19). It is therefore possible that the reader will have forgotten the precise setting by the time that the priests are mentioned again at the beginning of this verse. Since this possibility exists, a more specific transitional than So may be required at the beginning of the verse. For example, “When Joshua finished giving these instructions to the people, the priests blew the trumpets.”

As Revised Standard Version shows, the Hebrew text says that the people shouted, the priests blew the trumpets, and then the people shouted again, this time “a great shout,” at which the walls fell down. Good News Translation and New English Bible eliminate the repetition in the Hebrew text on the grounds that it is a stylistic matter, possibly reflecting the use of different sources. In the light of the whole event it seems impossible to believe that the Israelites shouted twice, although the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports this as one possible way of understanding the text. Assuming that a single shout is intended, one may translate loud shout as “battle cry.”

Jericho had a double wall; at one time in its historyRecent excavations date the destruction of the walls of Jericho to a long time before the Israelite invasion of Canaan; see commentaries, especially Soggin. the outer wall fell outward and the inner wall collapsed into the space between the two walls.

Good News Translation went straight up the hill makes explicit what is implicit in the Hebrew “went up” (see Revised Standard Version); Jericho was built on a hill. The expression “every man straight before him” (Revised Standard Version) indicates that there was no opposition to the attack (see also verse 5). The victory was the Lord’s doing; it was his power that caused Jericho to fall.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .