Cornet

Cornet translates the Hebrew shophar, the ram's horn used as Israel's primary signaling and ceremonial instrument. The name shophar is related to a root meaning brightness, referring to the clarity and carrying power of its sound. It was the instrument used to signal assembly, to sound the alarm of war, to proclaim the jubilee year, and to accompany worship — its blast at Sinai accompanied the divine presence (Exodus 19:16) and its sound opened the gates of the New Year on the Feast of Trumpets.

The shophar appears frequently in the Psalms as an instrument of praise (Psalm 98:6; 150:3) and in the prophets as a signal of warning and judgment. Hosea 5:8 calls for the shophar to sound the alarm at Gibeah. In the New Testament, the trumpet image becomes eschatological: the last trump signals the resurrection and transformation of believers (1 Corinthians 15:52), and seven trumpet blasts structure the judgments of Revelation 8–11. Daniel 3:5 and 3:7 list a different term translated cornet in the KJV among the instruments commanded to signal worship of Nebuchadnezzar's gold image.