Reading 1, Daniel 13:41-62

⁴¹ She refused to tell us. That is our evidence.' Since they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly accepted their word: Susanna was condemned to death.

⁴² She cried out as loud as she could, 'Eternal God, you know all secrets and everything before it happens;

⁴³ you know that they have given false evidence against me. And now I must die, innocent as I am of everything their malice has invented against me!'

⁴⁴ The Lord heard her cry

⁴⁵ and, as she was being led away to die, he roused the holy spirit residing in a young boy called Daniel

⁴⁶ who began to shout, 'I am innocent of this woman's death!'

⁴⁷ At this all the people turned to him and asked, 'What do you mean by that?'

⁴⁸ Standing in the middle of the crowd, he replied, 'Are you so stupid, children of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel unheard, and without troubling to find out the truth?

⁴⁹ Go back to the scene of the trial: these men have given false evidence against her.'

⁵⁰ All the people hurried back, and the elders said to Daniel, 'Come and sit with us and tell us what you mean, since God has given you the gifts that elders have.'

⁵¹ Daniel said, 'Keep the men well apart from each other, for I want to question them.'

⁵² When the men had been separated, Daniel had one of them brought to him. 'You have grown old in wickedness,' he said, 'and now the sins of your earlier days have overtaken you,

⁵³ you with your unjust judgements, your condemnation of the innocent, your acquittal of the guilty, although the Lord has said, "You must not put the innocent and upright to death."

⁵⁴ Now then, since you saw her so clearly, tell me what sort of tree you saw them lying under.' He replied, 'Under an acacia tree.'

⁵⁵ Daniel said, 'Indeed! Your lie recoils on your own head: the angel of God has already received from him your sentence and will cut you in half.'

⁵⁶ He dismissed the man, ordered the other to be brought and said to him, 'Son of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray!

⁵⁷ This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel, and they have been too frightened to resist; but here is a daughter of Judah who could not stomach your wickedness!

⁵⁸ Now then, tell me what sort of tree you surprised them under.' He replied, 'Under an aspen tree.'

⁵⁹ Daniel said, 'Indeed! Your lie recoils on your own head: the angel of God is waiting with a sword to rend you in half, and destroy the pair of you.'

⁶⁰ Then the whole assembly shouted, blessing God, the Saviour of those who trust in him.

⁶¹ And they turned on the two elders whom Daniel had convicted of false evidence out of their own mouths.

⁶² As the Law of Moses prescribes, they were given the same punishment as they had schemed to inflict on their neighbour. They were put to death. And thus, that day, an innocent life was saved.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

¹ [Psalm Of David] Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

² In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me

³ to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.

⁴ Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.

⁵ You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.

⁶ Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.

Gospel, John 8:1-11

¹ and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

² At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

³ The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle

⁴ they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery,

⁵ and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?'

⁶ They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.

⁷ As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.'

⁸ Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground.

⁹ When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle.

¹⁰ Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'

¹¹ 'No one, sir,' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus. 'Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'

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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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