¹⁵ And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;

¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

¹⁸ Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.

¹⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God formed every [wild] beast and living creature of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name.

²⁰ And Adam gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the air and to every [wild] beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.

²¹ And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the [place with] flesh.

²² And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

²³ Then Adam said, This [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man.

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.^(A)

²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not embarrassed or ashamed in each other’s presence.

2 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on My holy Mount [Zion]. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of [the judgment of] the Lord is coming; it is close at hand—^(A)

² A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and of thick mists and darkness, like the morning dawn spread upon the mountains; so there comes a [heathen, hostile] people numerous and mighty, the like of which has never been before and shall not be again even to the years of many generations.

³ A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yes, and none has escaped [the ravages of the devouring hordes].

⁴ Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses and horsemen, so do they run.

⁵ Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains they leap—like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a mighty people set in battle array.^(B)

⁶ Before them the peoples are in anguish; all faces become pale.

⁷ They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war. They march each one [straight ahead] on his ways, and they do not break their ranks.

⁸ Neither does one thrust upon another; they walk every one in his path. And they burst through and upon the weapons, yet they are not wounded and do not change their course.

⁹ They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up on and into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief.

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining.^(C)

¹¹ And the Lord utters His voice before His army, for His host is very great, and [they are] strong and powerful who execute [God’s] word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can endure it?^(D)

¹² Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn and keep on coming to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning [until every hindrance is removed and the broken fellowship is restored].

¹³ Rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil [when His conditions are met].

¹⁴ Who knows but what He will turn, revoke your sentence [of evil], and leave a blessing behind Him [giving you the means with which to serve Him], even a cereal or meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God?

3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon),

² [When] a certain man crippled from his birth was being carried along, who was laid each day at that gate of the temple [which is] called Beautiful, so that he might beg for charitable gifts from those who entered the temple.

³ So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them to give him a gift.

⁴ And Peter directed his gaze intently at him, and so did John, and said, Look at us!

⁵ And [the man] paid attention to them, expecting that he was going to get something from them.

⁶ But Peter said, Silver and gold (money) I do not have; but what I do have, that I give to you: in [the ^[a]use of] the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!