2:1 Blow the trumpet ¹  in Zion;

sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,

for the day of the Lord is about to come.

Indeed, ²  it is near! ³ 

2:2 It will be ⁴  a day of dreadful darkness, ⁵ 

a day of foreboding storm clouds, ⁶ 

like blackness ⁷  spread over the mountains.

It is a huge and powerful army ⁸  –

there has never been anything like it ever before,

and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁹ 

2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; ¹⁰ 

a flame blazes behind them.

The land looks like the Garden of Eden ¹¹  before them,

but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –

for nothing escapes them! ¹² 

2:4 They look like horses; ¹³ 

they charge ahead like war horses.

2:5 They sound like ¹⁴  chariots rumbling ¹⁵  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ¹⁶  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ¹⁷  a mighty army ¹⁸  being drawn up for battle. ¹⁹ 

2:6 People ²⁰  writhe in fear when they see them. ²¹ 

All of their faces turn pale with fright. ²² 

2:7 They ²³  charge ²⁴  like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers. ²⁵ 

Each one proceeds on his course;

they do not alter ²⁶  their path.

2:8 They do not jostle one another; ²⁷ 

each of them marches straight ahead. ²⁸ 

They burst through ²⁹  the city defenses ³⁰ 

and do not break ranks.

2:9 They rush into ³¹  the city;

they scale ³²  its walls.

They climb up into the houses;

they go in through the windows like a thief.

2:10 The earth quakes ³³  before them; ³⁴ 

the sky reverberates. ³⁵ 

The sun and the moon grow dark;

the stars refuse to shine. ³⁶ 

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders ³⁷  as he leads his army. ³⁸ 

Indeed, his warriors ³⁹  are innumerable; ⁴⁰ 

Surely his command is carried out! ⁴¹ 

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ⁴² 

and very terrifying – who can survive ⁴³  it?

3:1 Now ¹  the serpent ²  was more shrewd ³ 

than any of the wild animals ⁴  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ⁵  God ⁶  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ⁷  3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat ⁸  of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3:3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, ⁹  or else you will die.’” ¹⁰  3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, ¹¹  3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open ¹²  and you will be like divine beings who know ¹³  good and evil.” ¹⁴ 

3:6 When ¹⁵  the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, ¹⁶  was attractive ¹⁷  to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, ¹⁸  she took some of its fruit and ate it. ¹⁹  She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. ²⁰  3:7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about ²¹  in the orchard at the breezy time ²²  of the day, and they hid ²³  from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 3:9 But the Lord God called to ²⁴  the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ²⁵  3:10 The man replied, ²⁶  “I heard you moving about ²⁷  in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 3:11 And the Lord God ²⁸  said, “Who told you that you were naked? ²⁹  Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” ³⁰  3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave ³¹  me some fruit ³²  from the tree and I ate it.” 3:13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this ³³  you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent ³⁴  tricked ³⁵  me, and I ate.”

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ³⁶ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ³⁷  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ³⁸ 

and dust you will eat ³⁹  all the days of your life.

3:15 And I will put hostility ⁴⁰  between you and the woman

and between your offspring and her offspring; ⁴¹ 

her offspring will attack ⁴²  your head,

and ⁴³  you ⁴⁴  will attack her offspring’s heel.” ⁴⁵ 

3:16 To the woman he said,

“I will greatly increase ⁴⁶  your labor pains; ⁴⁷ 

with pain you will give birth to children.

You will want to control your husband, ⁴⁸ 

but he will dominate ⁴⁹  you.”

3:17 But to Adam ⁵⁰  he said,

“Because you obeyed ⁵¹  your wife

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground ⁵²  thanks to you; ⁵³ 

in painful toil you will eat ⁵⁴  of it all the days of your life.