23 Now these are the last words of David: David son of Jesse says, and the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, says,

² The Spirit of the Lord spoke in and by me, and His word was upon my tongue.

³ The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me, When one rules over men righteously, ruling in the fear of God,

⁴ He dawns on them like the morning light when the sun rises on a cloudless morning, when the tender grass springs out of the earth through clear shining after rain.

⁵ Truly does not my house stand so with God? For He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For will He not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?

⁶ But wicked, godless, and worthless lives are all like thorns to be thrust away, because they cannot be taken with the hand.

⁷ But the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they are utterly consumed with fire on the spot.

⁸ These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the Three [heroes], known also as Adino the Eznite; he wielded his spear and went against 800 men, who were slain at one time.^(A)

⁹ Next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines assembled there for battle, and the men of Israel had departed.

¹⁰ [Eleazar] arose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword. The Lord wrought a great deliverance and victory that day; the men returned after him only to take the spoil.

¹¹ Next to [Eleazar] was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines were gathered at Lehi on a piece of ground full of lentils; and the [Israelites] fled from the Philistines.

¹² But he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the Philistines; and the Lord wrought a great victory.

¹³ And three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time to David in the cave of Adullam, and a troop of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴ And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

¹⁵ And David said longingly, Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate!

¹⁶ And the three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem by the gate and brought it to David. But he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord.

¹⁷ And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, to drink this. Is it not [the same as] the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? So he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

27 When it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people held a consultation against Jesus to put Him to death;

² And they bound Him and led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate the governor.

³ When Judas, His betrayer, saw that [Jesus] was condemned, [Judas was ^[a]afflicted in mind and troubled for his former folly; and] with remorse [with little more than a selfish dread of the consequences] he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,^(A)

⁴ Saying, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. They replied, What is that to us? See to that yourself.

⁵ And casting the pieces of silver [forward] into the [Holy Place of the ^[b]sanctuary of the] temple, he departed; and he went off and hanged himself.

⁶ But the chief priests, picking up the pieces of silver, said, It is not legal to put these in the [consecrated] treasury, for it is the price of blood.

⁷ So after consultation they bought with them [the pieces of silver] the potter’s field [as a place] in which to bury strangers.

⁸ Therefore that piece of ground has been called the Field of Blood to the present day.

⁹ Then were fulfilled the words spoken by Jeremiah the prophet when he said, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on Whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,^(B)

¹⁰ And they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.

¹² [Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God.

¹³ But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him].

¹⁴ For we ^[a]have become fellows with Christ (the Messiah) and share in all He has for us, if only we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation [in virtue of which we are believers] firm and unshaken to the end.

¹⁵ Then while it is [still] called Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion [in the desert, when the people provoked and irritated and embittered God against them].^(A)

¹⁶ For who were they who heard and yet were rebellious and provoked [Him]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

¹⁷ And with whom was He irritated and provoked and grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose ^[b]dismembered bodies were strewn and left in the desert?

¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [who had not listened to His word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded]?

¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest], because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God [unbelief had shut them out].^(B)