Word study

Trumpet

1 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: trumpets, trumpet. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “trumpet” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • חֲצֹצְרָה chătsôtserâhclariontranslated this way 26 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H2689Noun  ·  Translated: trumpets 23, trumpeters 3, blew the trumpets 1, accompanied by trumpets 1

    Numbers 10:2 “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.

    2 Kings 11:14 And she looked out and saw the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom. The officers and trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason! Treason!”

    Full study and all 27 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • σάλπιγξ sálpinxa trumpettranslated this way 11 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G4536Noun  ·  Translated: trumpet 8, trumpets 2, trumpet call 1

    Matthew 24:31 And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

    1 Corinthians 14:8 Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?

    Full study and all 11 verses →
  • σαλπίζω salpízōI sound a trumpettranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G4537Verb  ·  Translated: sounded 8, sound 2, sound a trumpet 1, trumpet will sound 1

    Matthew 6:2 So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

    1 Corinthians 15:52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

    Full study and all 12 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

What the Bible says about trumpet: passages by topic →

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.