Numbers 10:5

10:5-8 When it was time to break camp, the sound of the trumpets supplemented the movement of the pillar of cloud (cp. 9:15-22) by signaling when to camp and when to move on (see ch 2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the host of Judah and they that are under his ensign.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 5. When ye blow an alarm] תרועה teruah, probably meaning short, broken, sharp tones, terminating with long ones, blown with both the trumpets at once. From the similarity in the words some suppose that the Hebrew teruah was similar to the Roman taratantara, or sound of their clarion.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) When ye blow an alarm.—The word teruah, alarm, is supposed to denote a loud and continuous blast, by which the signal for the moving of the camps was distinguished from those which were used for the summoning of the congregation, or of the princes (Num_10:7). In the former of these cases some suppose that both trumpets were blown, and in the latter only one (Num_10:4 and Note. Comp. Light-foot’s Temple Service, Num_7:5; Num_7:2.) The fuller directions respecting the order in which the camps were to break up are given in Numbers 2. Here the order of the eastern and southern camps only is prescribed. In the LXX., however, we read thus: “And ye shall sound a third alarm, and the camps pitched by the sea (i.e., westward), shall move forward; and ye shall sound a fourth alarm, and they that encamp toward the north shall move forward; they shall sound an alarm at their departure.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. blow an alarm] A signal quite different from the simple ‘blow’ in Num_10:3-4. But it is not known in what the difference consisted. Some think that ‘to blow’ means to produce a single long blast, while ‘to blow an alarm’ was to produce several short sharp notes—a ‘fanfare’ (Heb. terû‛âh). But the converse is equally likely.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When ye blow an alarm,.... Making a broken, uneven, and quavering sound, which is called a "tara-tan-tara":

then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward; the camps of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, which lay to the east of the tabernacle, at the front of it; see Num 1:3; this was to be the token for their march, which was first of all; Num 10:14.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Blow an alarm - i. e. along continuous peal. Compare Num 10:7, ye shall blow, but not sound an alarm: i. e. blow in short, sharp notes, not in a continuous peal. A third and a fourth alarm were probably blown as signals.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Longer, and with interruptions. Hebrew teruha, "a signal," an alarm. Septuagint, "a loud cry of victory." Chaldean, "the taratantara," as Montanus translates, in allusion to the sound of the Hebrew word, (Calmet) or of the trumpets. When they were sounded with a variety of notes, or at different intervals, all knew that the camp was to break up, even though they had not been attentive to the motions of the cloud. Then Juda led the van, chap. ii. 9. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To wit, when ye blow once, as appears from Num 10:6.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. An alarm — The same Hebrew word designates the loud clang of the trumpet announcing the new year or the jubilee. Lev_25:9. The order of march has been already fixed in chap. 2. We are left to infer that a third and a fourth alarm were sounded for the camps on the west and north of the tabernacle to move, preceded by the Levites.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When ye blow an alarm. Hebrew, hWrT. This seems to signify a continuous peal, easily distinguished, wherever audible, from the blowing in short, sharp tones (Hebrew, qT) mentioned below, verse 7. The peal of alarm was to be blown their breaking up for that purpose, and no other. The camps. Only those on the east (Judah, with Issachar and Zebulun) and on the south (Reuben, with Simeon and Gad) are here mentioned. It may be that the silver trumpets themselves were carried with the sacred utensils after the southern camps, and that some other means were employed to start the remaining tribes; or it may be that the omission is due to some accidental circumstance. The Septuagint inserts in verse 6, "And ye shall sound a third alarm, and the camps which are pitched westwards shall move; and ye shall sound a fourth alarm, and the camps which are pitched northwards shall move." No doubt this was the actual order of starting, however the signal was given.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To give the signal for breaking up the camp, they were to blow תּרוּעה, i.e., a noise or alarm. At the first blast the tribes on the east, i.e., those who were encamped in the front of the tabernacle, were to break up; at the second, those who were encamped on the south; and so on in the order prescribed in ch. 2, though this is not expressly mentioned here. The alarm was to be blown למסּעיהם, with regard to their breaking up or marching.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

ותקעתם תרועה WHEN YE BLOW AN ALARM — The signal for the camps to set out on the journey was a Tekiah, a Teruah (a tremulous sound) and again a Tekiah. Thus is it derived in the Siphre from the apparently redundant verses (Sifrei Bamidbar 73:2; cf. Rosh Hashanah 34a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.