“Feast of Trumpets”?

The Day of Alarm is more commonly known as the “Feast of Trumpets”. This is because of how Leviticus 23:23–25 is commonly translated:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ₂₄ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. ₂₅ You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD. (ESV)

However, the Hebrew text of the passage does not actually contain a word for “trumpet”. Rather, the Hebrew word for “blast of trumpets” is tərūwʿāh (תְּרוּעָה), which simply means “alarm” or “noise”. Nothing in the passage suggests that the sound must be made by a trumpet.

Of course, tərūwʿāh could denote the sound made by a trumpet, but it could also denote other loud sounds such as the clashing of cymbals (Psa. 150:5) and shouts made by voice (Josh. 6:5, 20; 1 Sam. 4:5–6; Ezra 3:11–13; Job 8:21; 33:26; 39:25). Therefore, the sound of the tərūwʿāh does not have to be made with a trumpet. Rather, it could be made with other instruments or in other ways. The emphasis of the term tərūwʿāh is on the sound that is made, and not on the instrument that is used.

The actual name of this biblical holiday is Yōwm Tərūwʿāh (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה), meaning “Day of Alarm”. It can be found in Numbers 29:1, where it is likewise commonly mistranslated as “a day of blowing trumpets”. Again, a word for “trumpet” is not found in the Hebrew text. Rather, the Hebrew word for “blowing trumpets” is tərūwʿāh, which simply means “alarm” or “noise”.