What does חֲצֹצְרָה (ḥăṣōṣĕrāh) mean in the Bible?
The trumpet in these passages is an instrument used for audible signals and praise. Numbers commands two silver trumpets for calling the congregation and directing the camps to set out.
Hebrew · H2689
חֲצֹצְרָה
The trumpet in these passages is an instrument used for audible signals and praise. Numbers commands two silver trumpets for calling the congregation and directing the camps to set out.
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חֲצֹצְרָהH2689
Pronunciationḥăṣōṣĕrāh
What does חֲצֹצְרָה (ḥăṣōṣĕrāh) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for חֲצֹצְרָה (H2689) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H2689?
The BSB source-word alignment has 29 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include trumpets (7), the trumpets (4), and trumpets (3), with trumpets (3), and the trumpets (2).
Where does חֲצֹצְרָה (ḥăṣōṣĕrāh) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Numbers 10:2. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Chronicles (11), 1 Chronicles (5), Numbers (5), 2 Kings (3).
What This Word Actually Means
The trumpet in these passages is an instrument used for audible signals and praise. Numbers commands two silver trumpets for calling the congregation and directing the camps to set out. The chapter distinguishes their uses for leaders, assembly, movement, battle and appointed occasions. Psalm 98 places trumpets alongside the ram's horn in joyful praise before the Lord as King.
That neighboring instrument should not be silently treated as the same Hebrew word. The sound receives its purpose from the instructions or worship setting. It does not carry an independent power to compel God or predict an event. Readers should hear the clear communal signal in Numbers and the joyful acknowledgment of the King in the psalm, without deriving a modern war command from an ancient instrument.
How the Bible Uses It
Numbers assigns trumpet signals to assembly, movement and appointed occasions. Psalm 98 joins them with another named instrument in praise, keeping the sound's purpose tied to its setting.
- Num.10.2
“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.
The two hammered silver trumpets are expressly assigned to calling the congregation together and having the camps set out.
- Num.10.10
And on your joyous occasions, your appointed feasts, and the beginning of each month, you are to blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings to serve as a reminder for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”
Joyful occasions, festivals, new months and offerings give the trumpet a remembrance setting before God, alongside the chapter's other specified uses.
- Ps.98.6
With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
Trumpets and the ram's horn accompany joyful sound before the Lord as King, within the psalm's wider summons to praise.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ittrumpets7×Numbers 10:2, 2 Kings 11:14, 2 Kings 12:13, 1 Chronicles 16:42
the trumpets4×Numbers 10:8, Numbers 10:10, 1 Chronicles 15:24, 2 Chronicles 13:14
and trumpets3×1 Chronicles 13:8, 1 Chronicles 15:28, 2 Chronicles 20:28
with trumpets3×Ezra 3:10, Nehemiah 12:35, Psalms 98:6
and the trumpets2×Numbers 31:6, 2 Chronicles 29:27
and trumpeters2×2 Kings 11:14, 2 Chronicles 23:13
with their trumpets2×2 Chronicles 13:12, Nehemiah 12:41
accompanied by trumpets1×2 Chronicles 5:13
and the trumpeters1×2 Chronicles 29:28
blew the trumpets1×1 Chronicles 16:6
on the trumpets1×Numbers 10:9
the trumpet1×Hosea 5:8
with the trumpets1×2 Chronicles 29:26
Show sample aligned rows
Numbers 10:2חֲצֽוֹצְרֹ֣תtotrumpetsNoun - feminine plural constructNumbers 10:8בַּֽחֲצֹצְר֑וֹתtothe trumpetsPreposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine pluralNumbers 10:9בַּחֲצֹצְר֑וֹתtoon the trumpetsPreposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine pluralNumbers 10:10בַּחֲצֹֽצְרֹ֗תtothe trumpetsPreposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine pluralNumbers 31:6וַחֲצֹצְר֥וֹתtoand the trumpetsConjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct2 Kings 11:14וְהַחֲצֹֽצְרוֹת֙toand trumpetersConjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine plural2 Kings 11:14בַּחֲצֹֽצְר֑וֹתtotrumpetsPreposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural2 Kings 12:13חֲצֹ֣צְר֔וֹתtotrumpetsNoun - feminine plural1 Chronicles 13:8וּבַחֲצֹצְרֽוֹת׃toand trumpetsConjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural1 Chronicles 15:24בַּחֲצֹ֣צְר֔וֹתtothe trumpetsPreposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowNumbers 10:2
Aligned rows29
Books represented8
Numbers52 Kings31 Chronicles52 Chronicles11Ezra1Nehemiah2Psalms1Hosea1
Source forms
בַּחֲצֹצְר֑וֹת2xba·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯNumbers 10:9, Nehemiah 12:35
בַּחֲצֹ֣צְר֔וֹת2xba·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯ1 Chronicles 15:24, 2 Chronicles 23:13
בַּחֲצֹצְרֽוֹת׃2xba·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯ2 Chronicles 13:14, Nehemiah 12:41
וּבַחֲצֹצְר֖וֹת2xū·ḇa·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯ1 Chronicles 15:28, 2 Chronicles 15:14
וַחֲצֹצְר֥וֹת2xwa·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯNumbers 31:6, 2 Chronicles 13:12
בַּֽחֲצֹצְר֑וֹת1xba·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯNumbers 10:8
בַּחֲצֹֽצְר֑וֹת1xba·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯ2 Kings 11:14
בַּחֲצֹצְר֣וֹת1xba·ḥă·ṣō·ṣə·rō·wṯ1 Chronicles 16:6
Parsing patterns
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural15xNumbers 10:8, Numbers 10:9, Numbers 10:10, 2 Kings 11:14
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine plural4x2 Kings 11:14, 2 Chronicles 23:13, 2 Chronicles 29:27, 2 Chronicles 29:28
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine plural4x1 Chronicles 13:8, 1 Chronicles 15:28, 2 Chronicles 15:14, 2 Chronicles 20:28
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct2xNumbers 31:6, 2 Chronicles 13:12
Noun - feminine plural2x2 Kings 12:13, 1 Chronicles 16:42
Noun - feminine plural construct1xNumbers 10:2
Noun - feminine singular1xHosea 5:8
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Keep worship practices intelligible and avoid promising effects from a particular instrument.
- Do not pressure listeners with unsupported claims that a sound requires immediate allegiance.
Avoid claiming...
- The trumpet noun does not identify every current blast as a divine prophetic announcement.
- Its use in battle does not grant standing authority for present violence.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Ritual instrument producing a sharp, piercing blast; associated with divine announcement, assembly, and warfare in theocratic contexts
Source Gloss
a trumpet (from its sundered or quavering note)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Ritual instrument producing a sharp, piercing blast; associated with divine announcement, assembly, and warfare in theocratic contexts
a trumpet (from its sundered or quavering note) BDB: clarion Usage: trumpet(-er).
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
חֲצֹצְרָה is built from this root:
חָצַרH2690
For the Preacher and Teacher
Numbers makes the sound intelligible through instructions. A community must know whether leaders are being summoned, the congregation is assembling or the camps are moving. The same chapter names appointed occasions and remembrance before God, so the instrument serves several specified actions rather than one hidden spiritual formula. Psalm 98 contributes the sound of praise before the King, with voices, other instruments and creation joining the summons.
Teaching can appreciate communication and worship while declining to turn volume or musical choice into a mechanism of divine control. The passage supplies the required response to the sound. A present use of an instrument needs its own purpose and discernment, rather than a claim that every blast inherits every ancient instruction.
Anchor passage
Num.10.2
Doctrinal connections
- Numbers 10:2-4 distinguishes calling the congregation from summoning its leaders.
- Numbers 10:5-8 assigns signals and responsibility within the camp's movement instructions.
- Numbers 10:9 situates battle remembrance within the explicitly described ancient instruction.
- Numbers 10:10 includes appointed joyful occasions and offerings before God.
- Psalm 98:4-8 joins instrumental praise with voices and the rejoicing of creation.
- First Corinthians 14:8-9 uses an unclear trumpet call to explain the need for intelligible speech.
The licensed Hebrew record names a trumpet or clarion. Psalm 98 distinguishes it from the ram's horn, and Numbers' instructions determine what a particular signal communicates without a hidden lexical code.
From Old to New Testament
First Corinthians 14:8-9 uses a trumpet's unclear call as an illustration of unintelligible speech. Paul's point concerns understandable communication in the church. The comparison illuminates the need for recognizable signals without transferring Numbers' battle instructions to present church action.