A horn trumpet used for war, for signals, for proclaiming the Jubilee and new year. The shophar was long and straight; the qeren (Daniel 3) crooked. Shophar is generally translated "trumpet," qeren "cornet" (Daniel 3). God appointed the making of two silver trumpets. They were 120 in Solomon's time (2 Chronicles 5:12), and were employed for other purposes besides those originally contemplated, namely, in the temple orchestra. The first day of the seventh month was "the memorial of blowing of trumpets" (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1).
        The beginning of the civil new year was thus ushered in with joyful thanksgivings for the mercies of the old year, the Levites chanting Psalm 81. This usage, however, cannot be proved so early as Moses' time, when the beginning of the (religious) year was fixed at the spring equinox, the period of the institution of the Passover, the month Abib (Exodus 12:2). The rabbis represent the seventh month as the anniversary of creation. The first day "memorial of blowing of trumpets" preluded the tenth day yearly great "atonement."