Numbers 10:5

5 "When you sound short blasts, the camps pitched on the east^[a] are to set out.

Numbers 10:5 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 10:5

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 ( Numbers 1:3 Numbers 1:5 Numbers 1:7 ) ; this was to be the token for their march, which was first of all; ( Numbers 10:14 ) .

Numbers 10:5 In-Context

3 When both are sounded in long blasts, the entire community is to gather before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

4 However, if one is sounded, only the leaders, the heads of Israel's clans, are to gather before you.

5 "When you sound short blasts, the camps pitched on the east are to set out.

6 When you sound short blasts a second time, the camps pitched on the south are to set out. Short blasts are to be sounded for them to set out.

7 When calling the assembly together, you are to sound long blasts, not short ones.

Footnotes

• [a] Nm 2:3-9; 10:14-16