With trumpets - The word used here is uniformly rendered “trumpets” in the Scriptures. Numbers 10:2, Numbers 10:8-10; Numbers 31:6; et al. The trumpet was mainly employed for convening a public assembly for worship, or for assembling the hosts for battle. The original word - חצצרה chătsôtserâh - is supposed to have been designed to imitate “the broken pulse-like sound of the trumpet, like the Latin “taratantara.” So the German “trarara,” and the Arabic hadadera. The word used here was given to the long, straight trumpet.
And sound of cornet ... - The word here translated “cornet” is also usually rendered “trumpet,” Exodus 19:16, Exodus 19:19; Exodus 20:18; Leviticus 25:9; Joshua 6:4-6, Joshua 6:8-9, Joshua 6:13, Joshua 6:16, Joshua 6:20; et saepe. It is rendered “cornet” in 1 Chronicles 15:28; 2 Chronicles 15:14; Hosea 5:8. In the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate it is here rendered “horn” - the meaning of “cornet.” The name - שׁפר shôphār - is supposed to have been given to this instrument from its clear and shrill sound, like the English name “clarion.” It was either made of horn, or similar to a horn - an instrument curved like a horn. The instrument was in frequent use among the Hebrews.