Reading 1, Sirach 47:2-11

² As the fat is set apart from the communion sacrifice, so was David chosen out of the Israelites.

³ He played with lions as though with kids, and with bears as though with lambs.

⁴ While still a boy, did he not slay the giant and take away the people's shame, by hurling a stone from his sling and cutting short the boasting of Goliath?

⁵ For he called on the Lord Most High, who gave strength to his right arm to put a mighty warrior to death and assert the strength of his own people.

⁶ Hence they gave him credit for ten thousand, and praised him while they blessed the Lord, by offering him a crown of glory.

⁷ For he destroyed the enemies on every front, he annihilated his foes, the Philistines, and crushed their strength for ever.

⁸ In all his activities he gave thanks to the Holy One Most High in words of glory; he put all his heart into his songs out of love for his Creator.

⁹ He placed singers before the altar, melodiously to sing;

¹⁰ he gave the feasts their splendour, the festivals their solemn pomp, causing the Lord's holy name to be praised and the sanctuary to resound from dawn.

¹¹ The Lord took away his sins, making his strength ever greater; he gave him a royal covenant, and a glorious throne in Israel.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 18:31, 47, 50, 51

³¹ For who is God but Yahweh, who is a rock but our God?

⁴⁷ the God who gives me vengeance, and subjects whole peoples to me,

⁵⁰ He saves his king time after time, displays his faithful love for his anointed, for David and his heirs for ever.

Gospel, Mark 6:14-29

¹⁴ King Herod had heard about him, since by now his name was well known. Some were saying, 'John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.'

¹⁵ Others said, 'He is Elijah,' others again, 'He is a prophet, like the prophets we used to have.'

¹⁶ But when Herod heard this he said, 'It is John whose head I cut off; he has risen from the dead.'

¹⁷ Now it was this same Herod who had sent to have John arrested, and had had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife whom he had married.

¹⁸ For John had told Herod, 'It is against the law for you to have your brother's wife.'

¹⁹ As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him, but she was not able to do so,

²⁰ because Herod was in awe of John, knowing him to be a good and upright man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

²¹ An opportunity came on Herod's birthday when he gave a banquet for the nobles of his court, for his army officers and for the leading figures in Galilee.

²² When the daughter of this same Herodias came in and danced, she delighted Herod and his guests; so the king said to the girl, 'Ask me anything you like and I will give it you.'

²³ And he swore her an oath, 'I will give you anything you ask, even half my kingdom.'

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, 'What shall I ask for?' She replied, 'The head of John the Baptist.'

²⁵ The girl at once rushed back to the king and made her request, 'I want you to give me John the Baptist's head, immediately, on a dish.'

²⁶ The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her.

²⁷ At once the king sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John's head.

²⁸ The man went off and beheaded him in the prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.

²⁹ When John's disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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