Reading 1, Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17

¹ Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, came to meet Abraham when he returned from defeating the kings, and blessed him;

² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, 'king of saving justice' and also king of Salem, that is, 'king of peace';

³ he has no father, mother or ancestry, and his life has no beginning or ending; he is like the Son of God. He remains a priest for ever.

¹⁵ This becomes even more clearly evident if another priest, of the type of Melchizedek, arises who is a priest

¹⁶ not in virtue of a law of physical descent, but in virtue of the power of an indestructible life.

¹⁷ For he is attested by the prophecy: You are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.

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Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 110:1, 2, 3, 4

¹ [Of David Psalm] Yahweh declared to my Lord, 'Take your seat at my right hand, till I have made your enemies your footstool.'

² Yahweh will stretch out the sceptre of your power; from Zion you will rule your foes all around you.

³ Royal dignity has been yours from the day of your birth, sacred honour from the womb, from the dawn of your youth.

⁴ Yahweh has sworn an oath he will never retract, you are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek.

Gospel, Mark 3:1-6

¹ Another time he went into the synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered.

² And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for something to charge him with.

³ He said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and stand in the middle!'

⁴ Then he said to them, 'Is it permitted on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?' But they said nothing.

⁵ Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out and his hand was restored.

⁶ The Pharisees went out and began at once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.

May 2013

June 2013

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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