1 - The Service Of God (Rules and Admonitions for the Elect)

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They that loved the synagogues of the pious
fled from them,
as sparrows that fly from their nest.

They wandered in deserts
that their lives might be saved from harm.

Psalms Of Solomon 17.15-16.

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Introduction

Because the Brotherhood at Qumran regarded itself as the true Congregation of Israel, charged with the specific task of maintaining the Law and Covenant of God in an age of apostasy and confusion, of bringing men back to the True Way before the Final Judgment overtook them, and of fighting the ultimate battle against the heathen, it organized itself into what may fairly be described as a 'church'. Such an organization requires a formal set of principles and a constitution, and these are set forth in the two documents known respectively as The Manual of Discipline and The 'Zadokite' Document. (*)

The former is contained in one of the scrolls discovered at Qumran in 1947 and in fragmentary copies subsequently brought to light. The latter, on the other hand, has been known for several years from two twelfth-century copies found by the late Solomon Schechter, in 1896-97, and the Ezra synagogue at Old Cairo (Fostat), where they formed part of the genizah, or repository of discarded manuscripts.

Although published as far back as 1910, it was not until the Qumran texts came to light that the true character of this document and its relation to the Dead Sea Brotherhood were made manifest. That relation is immediately apparent as soon as it is read alongside of the Manual; and it has been confirmed by the fact that fragments of earlier copies have actually been found in one of the caves at Qumran.

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[*] The title, 'Zadokite' Document, here retained purely for convenience, is in fact a misnomer, based on the false assumption that the expression, 'sons of Zadok' which occurs in sundry passages designates the Brotherhood as a whole (so named for its putative founder), whereas it really denotes only the priests. Similarly, because of its references to a 'new covenant' contracted in 'the land of Damascus', some scholars have assumed that it is the manual of discipline of the Brotherhood as reconstituted in that city after the Romans had stormed Qumran. But, in my opinion, the references in question are all purely figurative and typological and afford no evidence of an actual migration.

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Both documents are in the nature of compilations. They are, so to speak, communal 'commonplace books' in which several different formulations of the Code and Principles have been bound up together. This is especially apparent in the case of the Manual from a long interpolation reciting the doctrine of the Two Instincts of Man (cols, iii-iv) and headed explicitly Tor the use of the Instructor' (literally, 'him who would bring others to the inner vision'), shewing that this section was originally the 'prompt-book' for a sermon. In the case of the 'Zadokite' Document, a clear distinction can be recognized between the initial portion, which is in the nature of a homiletical discourse about the history of Israel and the doctrine of the Remnant, and the subsequent sections which recite the actual rules of the community.

As we have previously pointed out, (†) there is no proof that either document was composed originally by or for the men of Qumran. They may well represent pieces of traditional literature which nonconformist groups like the Qumran brotherhood came readily to adopt as their models. On that very natural assumption, it need not surprise us to find that several of the practises and institutions prescribed in these texts in fact bear a striking similarity to those which the first-century writers Josephus and Philo associate with the ascetic sect known as the Essenes—a sect many of whose members were, according to Pliny the Elder, likewise settled at that time on the western shore of the Dead Sea.

There is, for instance, basically the same system of probation and initiation; the same order of 'degrees of purity'; the same communal ownership of property; the same communal meals; the same system of 'overseers'; the same provision against blasphemy and the like; and the same rule about speaking in public sessions; and there was also among the Essenes the same distribution over urban and camp settlements as is envisaged in the 'Zadokite' Document.

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[†] See above, pp. 3ff.

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Nor should it surprise us any the more that there are also significant differences, for the Essenes (like the men of Qumran themselves) may well have accommodated the provisions of these traditional 'scriptures' to their own special needs.

There is, in short, no need to deduce from these affinities that the writers of the Scrolls and the covenanters at Qumran were actually Essenes, and on this hypothesis to explain away the discrepancies on the facile assumption that, after all, Philo and Josephus were describing conditions as they obtained in the first century C.E., whereas our texts may refer to an earlier stage in the history of the Essenes or even ascend to their putative forerunners, the Hasidim (Pious Ones) of Maccabean times!

No less interesting, and perhaps more exciting, than their connection with the Essenes are the many parallels which these texts afford with the organization of the primitive Christian Church. The community calls itself by the same name ('edah) as was used by the early Christians of Palestine to denote the Church. The same term is employed to designate its legislative assembly as was used by that community to denote the council of the Church. There are twelve 'men of holiness' who act as general guides of the community—a remarkable correspondence with the Twelve Apostles.

These men have three superiors, answering to the designation of John, Peter and James as the three pillars of the Church (Gal. 2.9f.). There is a regular system of mebaqqerim or 'overseers'—an exact equivalent of the Greek episkopoi, or 'bishops' (before they had acquired sacerdotal functions). And the Brotherhood describes itself as 'preparing the way in the desert'—words which John the Baptist likewise quoted from the Old Testament in defining his mission (John 1.23).

The Manual of Discipline and the 'Zadokite1 Document may be compared, in fact, with the Didache, the Didascalia Apostolorum and the Apostolic Constitutions—the primary documents relating to the organization of the primitive Church. Indeed, if we get away from the Greek terminology in which the details of that organization have mostly come down to us, and if we translate it back into Hebrew or Aramaic, we shall find that it bears a quite remarkable correspondence to that found in the Qumran texts, showing that the latter reflect a type of religious organization upon which the early Christian Church was largely patterned.

A supplement to these two major documents is the fragmentary text usually known as Ordinances but here entitled The Letter of the Law. This is part of a systematic guide (somewhat in the style of the Mishnah) to the practical application of the Mosaic Law. Whether it was intended as a regulatory code for the existent Brotherhood or for the future regenerated House of Israel cannot be determined, nor whether it is really part of The Book of Study [H-g-u/y=] prescribed elsewhere in the Scrolls as 'required reading'.

A pendant to these documents is the fragmentary Formulary of Blessings.

This little document gives the protocol for the exchange of greetings ('blessings') between members of the community. These greetings are based on the Priestly Benediction in the Biblical Book of Numbers (6.24-26), the ancient words being so interpreted and elaborated in each case as to bear special application to the person addressed. The interpretations rest on the device, familiar from rabbinic literature, of reading further meaning into a Scriptural text by mentally correlating it with other passages in which the same words are used in different contexts.

Thus, the phrase, 'The Lord bless thee' is tacitly associated with such a passage as Psalm 68.26, where the word 'bless' occurs beside the expression, 'fountain of Israel'. This at once suggests the thought that the blessing is to consist in draughts from the Divine Fountain.

Similarly, the phrase, 'and keep thee' at once recalls such passages as Deuteronomy 7.12: The Lord shall keep with thee the covenant', or Psalm 121.7: The Lord shall keep thee from all evil'. Accordingly, it evokes the idea that the blessing is to consist in maintenance of the Covenant and in protection from satanic influences.

Again, the words, The Lord lift up His countenance' are interpreted in the light of the various senses of the word 'lift', e.g., of lifting the soul from the pit, the sword and standard in battle, obstacles from the path.

This method of interpreting the Priestly Benediction may be admirably illustrated from the way in which it is in fact expounded in the rabbinic classic, Sifre (‡), a compilation made from earlier sources in the third century C.E.:

And keep thee: Rabbi Isaac says: This means, keep thee from the evil inclination, even as the Scripture declares, The Lord will be thy confidence, and will keep thy foot from being caught' (Prov. 3.26). Another explanation is that the words mean, keep thee from the demons, even as the Scripture says, 'He giveth His angels charge over thee, to keep thee from all evil' (Ps. 91.11). Yet another explanation is that they mean that God will keep unto thee the covenant made with thy fathers, as it is said, The Lord thy God will keep for thee the covenant and the mercy which He swore unto thy fathers' (Deut 7.12).

Or again, the words may be taken to mean that God will keep (hi mind) for thee the appointed consummation, as the Scripture says: 'Watchman (Heb. Keeper), what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? Saith the Watchman (i.e., He who keeps the tune in mind), 'Morning cometh, though now it be night' (Isa. 21.11-12). Lastly, the words may be referred to God's keeping thy soul at the hour of death, even as the Scripture says, The soul of my lord shall be bound up (i.e., kept tight) in the bond of life' (I Sam. 25.29); or of His keeping thy feet from hell, as it is said, 'He will keep the feet of His pious ones' (I Sam. 2.9).

The same compilation, it may be added, also records interpretations of the words, The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee', which are in perfect agreement with those given in our little document:

Be gracious unto thee: This means, give thee grace in the sight of all creatures...or, give thee the grace of knowledge and understanding and intelligence and instruction and wisdom...or, again, grace thee with study of the Torah.

In prescribing the greetings ('blessings') of the priests in general and of the high priest in particular, our document adopts yet another device. It plays on the various outward symbols of the priestly office. Thus, since the priest ministered in the 'holy place', the blessing is invoked upon him that he may minister hereafter in the celestial 'holy place'; since the high priest wore a crown or mitre, it is invoked upon him that he be crowned by God with the diadem of eternal honor.

Since the priest normally received the first portion of the offerings, he is saluted with the hope that he may enjoy 'the first portion of delights'; and since he is a ministrant at the altar, that he may 'share the lot of the ministering angels'. (This last, it may be observed, likewise has a remarkable parallel in Sifre (‡). 'When Torah issues from the priests' mouths', we read, 'God speaks of them as if they were ministering angels' [Korah, §119]).

Our text bears the title Tor the Maskil'. The same title recurs in the Manual of Discipline in the passage dealing with the two spirits which God has placed in every man (cols, iii-iv). It is not quite certain what the Hebrew word Maskil means in these contexts. Formally, it can denote either (a) one endowed with inner vision, or (b) one who seeks to impart such vision to others, (‡) If it bears the latter sense, it is possible that both our present text and the passage in the Manual were originally designed as 'model sermons' for the religious instructors of the community.

Indeed, we may even venture the conjecture that they were expository discourses designed to accompany readings from the Law; our present document being geared to that section of the Book of Numbers which includes the Priestly Benediction, and the passage in the Manual to some such 'lesson' as Deuteronomy 11.26ff ('Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse'). Josephus tells us explicitly that among the Essenes such expositions were a regular feature of the sabbath services.

The text of this document is very fragmentary, and in some cases the rubrics indicating to whom a particular blessing is addressed are missing. But the tenor of the blessing itself usually indicates who is intended. In this matter I have followed the suggestions of the original editors. For the rest, my restorations (indicated by brackets) are based on a recognition of that underlying method of Scriptural exegesis which has been outlined above.

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[‡] The word occurs in this latter sense in Dan. 12.3 where, however, it is commonly rendered 'they that are wise'.

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The Manual Of Discipline

Of the Commitment (i, 1-15)

Everyone who wishes to join the community must pledge himself to respect God and man; to live according to the communal rule: to seek God [ ]; to do what is good and upright in His sight in accordance with what He has commanded through Moses and through His servants the prophets; to love all that He has chosen and hate all that He has rejected to keep far from all evil and to cling to all good worksite act truthfully and righteously and justly on earth and to walk no more in the stubbornness of a guilty heart (1) and of lustful eyes, (2) doing all manner of evil; to bring into a bond of mutual love all who have declared their willingness to carry out the statutes of God; to join the formal community of God; to walk blamelessly before Him in conformity with all that has been revealed as relevant to the several periods during which they are to bear witness (to Him; to love all the children of light, (3) each according to his stake in the formal community of God; and to hate all the children of darkness, each according to the measure of his guilt, which God will ultimately requite.

All who declare their willingness to serve God's truth must bring all of their mind, all of their strength, and all of their wealth into the community of God, (4) so that their minds may be purified by the truth of His precepts, their strength controlled by His perfect ways, and their wealth disposed in accordance with His just design. They must not deviate by a single step from carrying out the orders of God at the times appointed for them; they must neither advance the statutory times nor postpone the prescribed seasons. (5) They must not turn aside from the ordinances of God's truth (6) either to the right or to the left.

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Of Initiation (i, 16-ii, 18)

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Moreover, all who would join the ranks of the community must enter into a covenant in the presence of God to do according to all that He has commanded and not to turn away from Him through any fear or terror (7) or through any trial to which they may be subjected through the domination of Belial. (8)

When they enter into that covenant, the priests and the levites are to pronounce a blessing upon the God of salvation and upon all that He does to make known His truth; and all that enter the covenant are to say after them, Amen, amen. (9)

Then the priests are to rehearse the bounteous acts of God as revealed in all His deeds of power, and they are to recite all His tender mercies towards Israel; while the levites are to rehearse the iniquities of the children of Israel and all the guilty transgressions and sins that they have committed through the domination of Belial.

And all who enter the covenant are to make confession after them, saying, We have acted perversely, we have transgressed, we have sinned, we have done wickedly, ourselves and our fathers before us, in that we have gone counter to the truth. God has been right to bring His judgment upon us and upon our fathers. (10) Howbeit, always from ancient times He has also bestowed His mercies upon us, and so will He do for all time to come.

Then the priests are to invoke a blessing on all that have cast their lot with God, (11) that walk blamelessly in all their ways; and they are to say: MAY HE BLESS THEE with all good and KEEP THEE from all evil, and ILLUMINE thy heart with insight into the things of life, and GRACE THEE with knowledge of things eternal, and LIFT UP HIS gracious COUNTENANCE TOWARDS THEE to grant thee peace everlasting. (12)

The levites, on the other hand, are to invoke a curse on all that have cast their lot with Belial, and to say in response: Cursed art thou for all thy wicked guilty works. May God make thee a thing of abhorrence at the hands of all who would wreak vengeance, and visit thine offspring with destruction at the hands of all who would mete out retribution. Cursed art thou, beyond hope of mercy.

Even as thy works are wrought in darkness, so mayest thou be damned in the gloom of the fire eternal. (13) May God show thee no favor when thou callest, neither pardon to forgive thine iniquities. May He lift up an angry countenance towards thee, to wreak vengeance upon thee. May no man wish thee peace of all that truly claim their patrimony. (14)

And all that enter the covenant shall say alike after them that bless and after them that curse, Amen, amen.

Thereupon the priests and the levites shall continue and say: Cursed be every one that hath come to enter this covenant (15) with the taint of idolatry in his heart and who hath set his iniquity as a stumblingblock before him (16) so that thereby he may defect, and who, when he hears the terms of this covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, May it go well with me, for I shall go on walking in the stubbornness of my heart! Whether he satisfy his passions or whether he still thirst for their fulfillment, (17) may his spirit be swept away and receive no pardon.

May the anger of God and the fury of His judgments consume him as by fire unto his eternal extinction, and may there cleave unto him all the curses threatened in this covenant. May God set him apart for misfortune, and may he be cut off from the midst of all the children of light in that through the taint of his idolatry (18) and through the stumblingblock of his iniquity he has defected from God. May God set his lot among those that are accursed for ever! And all who have been admitted to the covenant shall say after them in response, Amen, amen.

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Of The Annual Review (ii, 19-25)

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The following procedure is to be followed year by year so long as Belial continues to hold sway.

The priests are first to be reviewed in due order, one after another, in respect of the state of their spirits. After them, the levites shall be similarly reviewed, and in the third place all the laity (19) one after another, in their thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

The object is that every man in Israel may be made aware of his status in the community of God in the sense of the ideal, eternal society, (20) and that none may be abased below his status nor exalted above his allotted place. All of them will thus be members of a community founded at once upon true values and upon a becoming sense of humility, upon charity and mutual fairness—members of a society truly hallowed, partners in an everlasting communion. (21)

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Of Those Who Are To Be Excluded (ii, 25-iii, 12)

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Anyone who refuses to enter the (ideal) society of God and persists in walking in the stubbornness of his heart shall not be admitted to this community of God's truth. For inasmuch as his soul has revolted at the discipline entailed in a knowledge of God's righteous judgments, he has shown no real strength in amending his way of life, and therefore cannot be reckoned with the upright. The mental, physical and material resources of such a man are not to be introduced into the stock of the community, for such a man 'plows in the slime of wickedness' (22) and 'there are stains on his repentance'. He is not honest in resolving the stubbornness of his heart.

On paths of light he sees but darkness. Such a man cannot be reckoned as among those essentially blameless. He cannot be cleared by mere ceremonies of atonement, nor cleansed by any waters of ablution, nor sanctified by immersion in lakes or rivers, nor purified by any bath. Unclean, unclean he remains so long as he rejects the government of God and refuses the discipline of communion with Him.

For it is only through the spiritual apprehension of God's truth that man's ways can be properly directed. Only thus can all his iniquities be shriven so that he can gaze upon the true light of life. Only through the holy spirit can he achieve union with God's truth and be purged of all his iniquities. (23) Only by a spirit of uprightness and humility can his sin be atoned.

Only by the submission of his soul to all the ordinances of God can his flesh be made clean. Only thus can it really be sprinkled with waters of ablution. Only thus can it really be sanctified by waters of purification. And only thus can he really direct his steps to walk blamelessly through all the vicissitudes of his destiny in all the ways of God in the manner which He has commanded, without turning either to the right or to the left and without overstepping any of God's words. Then indeed will he be acceptable before God like an atonement-offering which meets with His pleasure, and then indeed will he be admitted to the covenant of the community for ever.

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Of The Two Spirits In Man (iii, 13-iv, 26)

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This is for the man who would bring others to the inner vision, (24) so that he may understand and teach to all the children of light the real nature of men, touching the different varieties of their temperaments with the distinguishing traits thereof, touching their actions throughout their generations, and touching the reason why they are now visited with afflictions and now enjoy periods of well-being.

All that is and ever was comes from a God of knowledge. (25) Before things came into existence He determined the plan of them; and when they fill their appointed roles, it is in accordance with His glorious design that they discharge their functions. Nothing can be changed. In His hand lies the government of all things. God it is that sustains them in their needs.

Now, this God created man to rule the world, and appointed for him two spirits after whose direction he was to walk until the final Inquisition. (26) They are the spirits of truth and of perversity.

The origin of truth lies in the Fountain of Light, and that of perversity in the Wellspring of Darkness. All who practice righteousness are under the domination of the Prince of Lights, (27) and walk in ways of light; whereas all who practice perversity are under the domination of the Angel of Darkness and walk in ways of darkness. Through the Angel of Darkness, (28) however, even those who practice righteousness are made liable to error.

All their sin and their iniquities, all their guilt and their deeds of transgression are the result of his domination; and this, by God's inscrutable design, will continue until the time appointed by Him. Moreover, all men's afflictions and all their moments of tribulation are due to this being's malevolent sway. (29) All of the spirits that attend upon him are bent on causing the sons of light to stumble. Howbeit, the God of Israel and the Angel of His truth (30) are always there to help the sons of light.

It is God that created these spirits of light and darkness and made them the basis of every act, the [instigators] of every deed and the directors of every thought. The one He loves to all eternity, and is ever pleased with its deeds; but any association with the other He abhors, and He hates all its ways to the end of time.

This is the way those spirits operate in the world. The enlightenment of man's heart, the making straight before him all the ways of righteousness and truth, the implanting in his heart of fear for the judgments of God, of a spirit of humility, of patience, of abundant compassion, of perpetual goodness, of insight, of perception, of that sense of the Divine Power that is based at once on an apprehension of God's works and a reliance on His plenteous mercy, of a spirit of knowledge informing every plan of action, of a zeal for righteous government, of a hallowed mind in a controlled nature, of abounding love for all who follow the truth, of a self-respecting purity which abhors all the taint of filth, of a modesty of behavior coupled with a general prudence and an ability to hide within oneself the secrets of what one knows (31)—these are the things that come to men in this world through communion with the spirit of truth. (32)

And the guerdon of all that walk in its ways is health and abundant well-being, with long Me and fruition of seed along with eternal blessings and everlasting joy in the life everlasting, and a crown of glory (33) and a robe of honor, (34) amid light perpetual.

But to the spirit of perversity belong greed, remissness in right-doing, wickedness and falsehood, pride and presumption, ruthless deception and guile, abundant insolence, shortness of temper and profusion of folly, arrogant passion, abominable acts in a spirit of lewdness, filthy ways in the thralldom of unchastity, a blasphemous tongue, blindness of eyes, dullness of ears, stiffness of neck and hardness of heart, to the end that a man walks entirely in ways of darkness and of evil cunning. (35)

The guerdon of all who walk in such ways is multitude of afflictions at the hands of all the angels of destruction, (36) everlasting perdition through the angry wrath of an avenging God, eternal horror and perpetual reproach, the disgrace of final annihilation in the Fire, darkness throughout the vicissitudes of life in every generation, doleful sorrow, bitter misfortune and darkling ruin—ending in extinction without remnant or survival.

It is to these things that all men are born, and it is to these that all the host of them are heirs throughout their generations. It is in these ways that men needs must walk and it is in these two divisions, according as a man inherits something of each, that all human acts are divided throughout all the ages of eternity. For God has appointed these two things to obtain in equal measure until the final age.

Between the two categories He has set an eternal enmity. Deeds of perversity are an abomination to Truth, while all the ways of Truth are an abomination to perversity; and there is a constant jealous rivalry between their two regimes, for they do not march in accord. Howbeit, God in His inscrutable wisdom has appointed a term for the existence of perversity, and when the tune of Inquisition comes, He will destroy it for ever.

Then truth will emerge triumphant for the world, albeit now and until the time of the final judgment it go sullying itself in the ways of wickedness owing to the domination of perversity. Then, too, God will purge all the acts of man in the crucible of His truth, and refine for Himself all the fabric of man, destroying every spirit of perversity from within his flesh and cleansing him by the holy spirit from all the effects of wickedness.

Like waters of purification He will sprinkle upon him the spirit of truth, (37) to cleanse him of all the abominations of falsehood and of all pollution through the spirit of filth; to the end that, being made upright, men may have understanding of transcendental knowledge and of the lore of the sons of heaven, (38) and that, being made blameless in their ways, they may be endowed with inner vision. For them has God chosen to be the partners of His eternal covenant, and theirs shall be all mortal glory. (39) Perversity shall be no more, and all works of deceit shall be put to shame.

Thus far, the spirits of truth and perversity have been struggling in the heart of man. Men have walked both in wisdom and in folly. If a man casts his portion with truth, he does righteously and hates perversity; if he casts it with perversity, he does wickedly and abominates truth. For God has apportioned them in equal measure until the final age, until 'He makes all things new'. (40) He foreknows the effect of their works in every epoch of the world, and He has made men heirs to them that they might know good and evil. But [when the time] of Inquisition [comes], He will determine the fate of every living being in accordance with which of the [two spirits he has chosen to follow].

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Of Social Relations (v, 1-7)

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This is the rule for all the members of the community— that is, for such as have declared their readiness to turn away from all evil and to adhere to all that God in His good pleasure has commanded.

They are to keep apart from the company of the froward.

They are to belong to the community in both a doctrinal and an economic sense.

They are to abide by the decisions of the sons of Zadok, (41) the same being priests that still keep the Covenant, and of the majority of the community that stand firm in it. It is by the vote of such that all matters doctrinal, economic and judicial are to be determined.

They are concertedly and in all Their pursuits to practise truth, humility, righteousness, justice, charity and decency, with no one walking in the stubbornness of his own heart or going astray after his heart or his eyes or his fallible human mind.

Furthermore, they are concertedly to remove the impurity of their human mold, and likewise all stiffneckedness.

They are to establish in Israel a solid basis of truth.

They are to unite in a bond indissoluble for ever.

They are to extend forgiveness to all among the priesthood that have freely enlisted in the cause of holiness, and to all among the laity that have done so in the cause of truth, and likewise to all that have associated themselves with them. (42)

They are to make common cause both in the struggle and in the upshot of it.

They are to regard as felons all that transgress the law.

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Of The Obligation Of Holiness (v, 7-20)

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And this is the way in which all those ordinances are to be applied on a collective basis.

Everyone who is admitted to the formal organization (*) of the community is to enter into a covenant of God in the presence of all fellow-volunteers in the cause and to commit himself by a binding oath (43) to return with all his heart and soul to the commandments of the Law of Moses, as that Law is revealed to the sons of Zadok—that is, to the priests who still keep the Covenant and seek God's will —and to a majority of their co-covenanters who have volunteered together to adhere to the truth of God and to walk according to His pleasure.

He that so commits himself is to keep apart from all froward men that walk in the path of wickedness; for such men are not to be reckoned in the Covenant inasmuch as they have never sought nor studied God's ordinances in order to find out on what more arcane points they may guiltily have gone astray, while in regard to the things which stand patently revealed they have acted highhandedly. They have thus incurred God's angry judgment and caused Him to take vengeance upon them with all the curses threatened in the Covenant (44) and to wreak great judgments upon them that they be finally destroyed without remnant.

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[*] Heb. 'council'.

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No one is to go into water in order to attain the purity of holy men. (45) For men cannot be purified except they repent their evil. God regards as impure all that transgress His word. No one is to have any association with such a man either in work or in goods, lest he incur the penalty of prosecution. Rather is he to keep away from such a man in every respect, for the Scripture says: 'Keep away from every false thing' [Ex. 23.7]. (46) No member of the community is to abide by the decision of such men in any matter of doctrine or law.

He is not to eat or drink of anything that belongs to them nor to receive anything from them except for cash, even as it is written: 'Desist from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for as what is he reckoned?' [Isa. 2.22] , (47) All that are not reckoned in the Covenant must be put aside, and likewise all that they possess. A holy man must not rely on works of vanity, and vanity is what all of them are that have not recognized God's Covenant. All that spurn His word will God blast out of the world. All their actions are as filth before Him, and He regards all their possessions as unclean.

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Of The Examination Of Initiants (v, 20-24)

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When a man enters the covenant, minded to act in accordance with all the foregoing ordinances and formally to ally himself to the holy congregation, inquiry is to be made concerning his temper in human relations and his understanding and performance in matters of doctrine. This inquiry is to be conducted jointly by the priests who have undertaken concertedly to uphold God's Covenant and to supervise the execution of all the ordinances which He has commanded, and by a majority of the laity who have likewise undertaken concertedly to return to that Covenant.

Every man is then to be registered in a particular rank, one after the other, by the standard of his understanding and performance. The object is that each person will be rendered subject to his superior. Their spiritual attitudes and their performance are to be reviewed, however, year by year, some being then promoted by virtue of their (improved) understanding and the integrity of their conduct, and others demoted for their waywardness.

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Of Accusations And Grudges (v, 24—vi, 1)

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When anyone has a charge against his neighbor, he is to prosecute it truthfully, humbly and humanely. He is not to speak to him angrily or querulously or arrogantly or in any wicked mood. (48) He is not to bear hatred [towards him in the inner recesses] of his heart. When he has a charge against him, he is to proffer it then and there (†) and not to render himself liable to penalty by nursing a grudge. Furthermore, no man is to bring a charge publicly against his neighbor except he prove it by witnesses.

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[†] Heb. 'on the selfsame day'.

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Of Communal Duties (vi, 1-8)

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This is the procedure which all members of the community are to follow in all dealings with one another, wherever they dwell.

Everyone is to obey his superior in rank (49) in all matters of work or money. But all are to dine together, worship together and take counsel together. (50)

Wherever there be ten men (51) who have been formally enrolled in the community, one who is a priest is not to depart from them. When they sit in his presence, they are to take their places according to their respective ranks; and the same order is to obtain when they meet for common counsel.

When they set the table for a meal or prepare wine to drink, the priest is first to put forth his hand to invoke a blessing on the first portion of the bread or wine. (52)

In any place where there happen to be ten such men, there is not to be absent from them one who will be available at all times, day and night, to interpret the Law (Torah) (53) each of them doing so in turn.

The general members of the community are to keep awake for a third of all the nights of the year reading book(s), (‡) studying the Law and worshiping together. (54)

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[‡] Or, 'the Book (of the Law)'.

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Of The General Council (vi, 8-13)

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This is the rule covering public sessions.

The priests are to occupy the first place. The elders are to come second; and the rest of the people are to take their places according to their respective ranks. This order is to obtain alike when they seek a judicial ruling, when they meet for common counsel, or when any matter arises of general concern.

Everyone is to have an opportunity of rendering his opinion in the common council No one, however, is to interrupt while his neighbor is speaking, or to speak until the latter has finished. (55) Furthermore, no one is to speak in advance of his prescribed rank. Everyone is to speak in turn, as he is called upon.

In public sessions, no one is to speak on any subject that is not of concern to (§) the company as a whole. (56) If the superintendent (57) of the general membership or anyone who is not of the same rank as the person who happens to be raising a question for the consideration of the community, has something to say to the company, he is to stand up and declare: I have something to say to the company; and only if they so bid him, is he to speak.

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[§] Or, 'to the liking of.

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Of Postulants And Novices (vi, 13-23)

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If any man in Israel wish to be affiliated to the formal congregation of the community, the superintendent of the general membership is to examine him as to his intelligence and his actions and, if he then embark on a course of training, he is to have him enter into a covenant to return to the truth and turn away from all perversity. Then he is to apprise him of all the rules of the community.

Subsequently, when that man comes to present himself to the general membership, everyone is to be asked his opinion about him, and his admission to or rejection from the formal congregation of the community is to be determined by general vote.

No candidate, however, is to be admitted to the formal state of purity enjoyed by the general membership of the community (58) until, at the completion of a full year, his spiritual attitude and his performance have been duly reviewed. Meanwhile he is to have no stake in the common funds. (59)

After he has spent a full year in the midst of the community, the members are jointly to review his case, as to his understanding and performance in matters of doctrine. If it then be voted by the opinion of the priests and of a majority of their co-covenanters to admit him to the sodality, they are to have him bring with him all his property and the tools of his profession. These are to be committed to the custody of the community's 'minister of works'. They are to be entered by that officer into an account, but he is not to disburse them for the general benefit.

Not until the completion of a second year among the members of the community is the candidate to be admitted to the common board. (**) (60) When, however, that second year has been completed, he is to be subjected to a further review by the general membership, (61) and if it then be voted to admit him to the community, he is to be registered in the due order of rank which he is to occupy among his brethren in all matters pertaining to doctrine, judicial procedure, degree of purity and share in the common funds. Thenceforth his counsel and his judgment are to be at the disposal of the community.

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(**) Heb. 'drink'.

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Of False, Impudent And Blasphemous Speech (vi, 23-vii, 5)

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And these are the rules to be followed in the interpretation of the law regarding forms of speech.

If there be found in the community a man who consciously lies in the matter of (his) wealth, he is to be regarded as outside the state of purity entailed by membership, and he is to be mulcted of one fourth of his food ration.

If a man answer his neighbor defiantly or speak brusquely so as to undermine the composure (††) of his fellow, and in so doing flout the orders of one who is registered as his superior [ ], (‡‡) he is to be mulcted for one year.

If a man, in speaking about anything, mention that Name which is honored above all [names], (§§) (62) or if, in a moment of sudden stress or for some other personal reason, he curse the (i.e., the man who reads the Book of the Law or leads worship), (*) (63) he is to be put out and never to return to formal membership in the community.

If a man speak in anger against one of the registered priests, he is to be mulcted for one year, placed in isolation, and regarded as outside the state of purity entailed in membership of the community. If, however, he spoke unintentionally, he is to be mulcted only for six months.

If a man dissemble about what he really knows, he is to be mulcted for six months.

If a man defames his neighbor unjustly, and does so deliberately, he is to be mulcted for one year and regarded as 'outside'.

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[††] Heb. 'shake (or, disturb) the foundation'.

[‡‡] An imperfectly preserved phrase follows in the text Possibly, it means, 'And if his hand act wickedly against him', i.e., if he bodily assaults him.

[§§] I.e., the name of God.

[*] This, gap and all, is how the text reads in the original. It is apparent that the scribe found in the archetype (or heard from dictation?) a rare word which he did not understand fully. He therefore left a blank, but added a gloss giving the approximate sense. The word must have been a technical term for something like 'precentor' or 'deacon'.

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Of Fraud (vii, 5-8)

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If a man speak with his neighbor in guile or consciously practice deceit upon him, he is to be mulcted for six months. If, however, he practices the deceit [unintention-ally], (†) he is to be mulcted only for three months.

If a man defraud the community, causing a deficit in its funds, he is to make good that deficit If he lack means to do so, he is to be mulcted for sixty days.

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[†] There is again a blank in the original. The scribe evidently could not decipher the word in his archetype, but the sense is clear.

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Of Vindictiveness (vii, 8-9)

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If he harbor a grudge against his neighbor without legitimate cause, he is to be mulcted for six months [supra-linear correction: 'one year']. The same is to apply also to anyone who takes personal revenge on his neighbor in any respect.

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Of Improper Speech (vii, 9)

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Anyone who indulges in indecent talk is to be mulcted for three months.

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Of Misconduct At Public Sessions (vii, 9-12)

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Anyone who interrupts his neighbor in a public session is to be mulcted for ten days.

Anyone who lies down and goes to sleep at a public session is to be mulcted for thirty days.

Anyone who leaves a public session gratuitously and without reason for as many as three times during one sitting is to be mulcted for ten days. If he leaves while everyone else is standing(?), (‡) he is to be mulcted for thirty days.

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[‡] This word is partly obliterated. The sense is therefore obscure.

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Of Indecorous Acts (vii, 12-15)

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If, except he be under duress, (?) (§) a man walk naked before his neighbor, he shall be mulcted for six months.

If a man spit into the midst of a public session, he shall be mulcted for thirty days.

If a man bring out his hand from under his cloak, and so expose himself that his private parts become visible, he shall be mulcted for thirty days.

If a man indulge in raucous, inane laughter, he shall be mulcted for thirty days.

If a man put forth his left hand (64) to gesticulate with it in conversation, he shall be mulcted for ten days.

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[§] Heb. uncertain.

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Of Slander And Incrimination (vii, 15-18)

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If a man slander his neighbor, he shall be regarded as outside the communal state of purity for one year, and he shall also be mulcted. But if he slander the entire group, he is to be expelled and never to return.

If a man complain against the whole basis of the community, he is to be expelled irrevocably.

If he complain against his neighbor without legitimate cause, he is to be mulcted for six months.

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Of Defection (vii, 18-25)

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If a man's spirit waver so far from the basis of the community that he betray the truth and walk in the stubbornness of his own heart, but if he subsequently repent, he shall be mulcted for two years. During the first, he shall be regarded as outside the communal state of purity altogether.

During the second, he shall be excluded only from the communal board (**) and occupy a place behind all the other members. At the completion of the two years, the membership in general shall hold an enquiry about him. If it then be decided to readmit him, he shall again be registered with duly assigned rank and thereafter he too shall be called upon to render his opinion in deliberations concerning the rules.

If a man has been a formal member of the community for a full ten years, but then, through a spiritual relapse, betray the principles of the community and quit the general body in order to walk in the stubbornness of his own heart, he is never to return to formal membership in the community. No member of the community is to associate with him either by recognizing him as of the same state of purity or by sharing property with him. Any of the members who does so shall be liable to the same sentence: he too shall be expelled. (65)

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(**) Heb. 'drink'.

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Of The Appointment Of 'Presbyters' (viii, 1-19)

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In the deliberative council of the community there shall be twelve laymen and three priests schooled to perfection in all that has been revealed of the entire Law. (66) Their duty shall be to set the standard for the practice of truth, righteousness and justice, and for the exercise of charity and humility in human relations; and to show how, by control of impulse and contrition of spirit, faithfulness may be maintained on earth; how, by active performance of justice and passive submission to the trials of chastisement, iniquity may be cleared, and how one can walk with all men with the quality of truth and in conduct appropriate to every occasion.

So long as these men exist in Israel, the deliberative council of the community will rest securely on a basis of truth. It will become a plant evergreen. Insofar as the laymen are concerned, it will be indeed a sanctuary; and insofar as the priesthood is concerned, it will indeed constitute the basis for a true 'holy of holies'.

The members of the community will be in all justice the witnesses of God's truth and the elect of His favor, (67) effecting atonement for the earth and ensuring the requital of the wicked. They will be, indeed, a tested bulwark' and 'a precious cornerstone' [cf. Isa. 28.16], (68) which shall never be shaken or moved from their place.

As for the priesthood, they shall be a seat for the holy of holies, inasmuch as all of them will then have knowledge of the Covenant of justice and all of them be qualified to offer what will be indeed 'a pleasant savor' to the Lord. And as for the laity, they will constitute a household of integrity and truth, qualified to maintain the Covenant as an everlasting pact. They shall prove acceptable to God, so that He will shrive the earth of its guilt, bring final judgment upon wickedness, and perversity shall be no more.

When these men have undergone, with blamelessness of conduct, a two-year preparation in the fundamentals of the community, they shall be segregated as especially sacred among the formal members of the community. Any knowledge which the expositor of the law may possess but which may have to remain arcane to the ordinary layman, he shall not keep hidden from them; for in their case there need be no fear that it might induce apostasy. (69)

When these men exist in Israel, these are the provisions whereby they are to be kept apart from any consort with froward men, to the end that they may indeed 'go into the wilderness to prepare the way', i.e., do what Scripture enjoins when it says, 'Prepare in the wilderness the way ... make straight in the desert a highway for our God' [Isa. 40.3]. (70) (The reference is to the study of the Law which God commanded through Moses to the end that, as occasion arises, all things may be done in accordance with what is revealed therein and with what the prophets also have revealed through God's holy spirit.)

No member of the community—that is, no duly covenanted member—who blatantly deviates in any particular from the total body of commandments is to be permitted to come into contact with the purity enjoyed by these specially holy men or to benefit by (††) their counsel until his actions be free of all perversity and he has been readmitted to the common council by decision of the general membership and thereupon reinstated in his rank. The same rule is to apply also to novices.

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[††] Heb. 'know'.

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Of The Conduct Of 'Presbyters' (viii, 20-ix, 6)

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These are the rules of conduct for the 'men of perfect holiness' in their dealings with one another.

If any of those that have been admitted to the degree of special sanctity—that is, to the degree of 'those that walk blamelessly in the way as God has commanded'—transgress a single word of the Law of Moses either blatantly or deviously, he is to be excommunicated and never to return. No other person in the degree of the specially holy is to have anything to do with him in the sharing either of property or of counsel.

If, however, he erred unintentionally, he is to be debarred only from that particular degree of purity and from participation in the common council. This is to be interpreted to mean that he is not to render any judgment nor is his counsel to be invited in any matter for a full two years. This holds good, however, only if, after the expiration of the full two years, his conduct be considered, in the judgment of the general membership, to be perfect alike in attendance at general assemblies, in study and in frame of mind, and if he has not meanwhile committed any further act of inadvertence.

In other words, this two-year penalty is to apply only in the case of a single inadvertent error, whereas if a man acts blatantly, he is nevermore to be readmitted. In sum, it is only the man who acts by inadvertence that is to be placed on probation for two years to see whether, in the opinion of the general membership, his conduct and frame of mind have meanwhile again become blameless. If so, he may be reinstated in the body of the especially holy.

When these things obtain in Israel, as defined by these provisions, the Holy Spirit will indeed rest on a sound foundation; truth will be evinced perpetually; the guilt of transgression and the perfidy of sin will be shriven; and atonement will be made for the earth more effectively than by any flesh of burnt-offerings or fat of sacrifices.

The 'oblation of the lips' will be in all justice like the erstwhile 'pleasant savor' on the altar; righteousness and integrity like that free-will offering which God deigns to accept At that time, the men of the community will constitute a true and distinctive temple-a veritable holy of holies—wherein the priesthood may fitly foregather, and a true and distinctive synagogue made up of laymen who walk in integrity.

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Of The Authority Of The Priests (ix, 7)

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The priests alone are to have authority in all judicial and economic matters, and it is by their vote that the ranks of the various members of the community are to be determined.

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Of The Property Of 'Presbyter? (ix, 8-11)

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The property of the 'specially holy men'—that is, of 'the men that walk blamelessly'—is not to be put into a common pool with that of men who may still be addicted to deceit (‡‡) and may not yet have achieved that purity of conduct which leads them to keep apart from perversity and to walk in integrity.

Until the coming of the Prophet (§§) and of both the priestly and the lay Messiah, (71) these men are not to depart from the clear intent of the Law to walk in any way in the stubbornness of their own hearts.

They shall judge by the original laws in which the members of the community were schooled from the beginning.

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[‡‡] Heb. simply, 'men of deceit'.

[§§] That is, the prophet foretold in Deut. 18:18, 'I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee [Moses]; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him'. See Introduction, p. 6.

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Of The Daily Conduct Of The Faithful (ix, 12-16)

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These are the ordinances for the conduct of any man that seeks after inner vision, in regard alike to human relations, the regulation of affairs on specific occasions, and the balanced appraisal of his fellow men, to the end that he may perform at all times the will of God which has been revealed as pertinent to this or that occasion; that he may at all times accommodate theory to circumstance; and that he may come to make the proper distinctions and evaluate the sons of Zadok (i.e., the priests) and the elect of any particular epoch by the standard of their spiritual attitudes, and appraise them by that criterion, thus conforming to the will of God, as He has commanded.

Everyone is to be judged by the standard of his spirituality. Intercourse with him is to be determined by the purity of his deeds, (*) and consort with him by the degree of his intelligence. This alone is to determine the degree to which a man is to be loved or hated.

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[*] Heb. 'hands (palms)'.

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Of Religious Discussion (ix, 16-21)

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No one is to engage in discussion or disputation with men of ill repute; and in the company of froward men everyone is to abstain from talk about (†) the meaning of the Law [Torah],

With those, however, that have chosen the right path everyone is indeed to discuss matters pertaining to the ap-prehension (‡) of God's truth and of His righteous judgments. The purpose of such discussions is to guide the minds of the members of the community, to give them insight into God's inscrutable wonders and truth, and to bring them to walk blamelessly each with his neighbor in harmony with all that has been revealed to them.

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[†] Heb. 'keep hidden'
[‡] Heb. 'knowledge'.

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For this is the time when 'the way is being prepared in the wilderness', and it behooves them to understand all that is happening. It is also the time when they must needs keep apart from all other men and not turn aside from the way through any form of perversity.

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Of Loving And Hating Fellowmen; And Of Duty To God (ix, 21-26)

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And these are the regulations of conduct for every man that would seek the inner vision in these times, touching what he is to love and what he is to hate.

He is to bear unremitting hatred towards all men of ill repute, and to be minded to keep in seclusion from them. He is to leave it to them to pursue ,wealth and mercenary gain, like servants at the mercy of their masters or wretches truckling to a despot.

He is to be zealous to carry out every ordinance punctiliously, against the Day of Requital. (72)

In all his emprises and in all things over which he has control he is to act in a manner acceptable to God, in accordance with what God has commanded.

He is to accept willingly whatever befalls him and to take pleasure in nothing but the will of God.

He is to make [all] the words of his mouth acceptable, and not to lust after anything that God has not commanded.

He is to watch ever for the judgment of God, and [hi every vicissitude of his existence] he is to bless his Maker. Whatever befalls, he is to [recount God's glory] and to bless him [with 'the oblation of] the lips'.

The 'Zadokite' Document (*)

[I]

* * *

I [II]

Of God's Vengeance And Providence (i, 1-ii, 12)

Now listen, all right-minded men, and take note how God acts: He has a case against all flesh and exacts satisfaction from all who spurn Him.

Whenever Israel broke faith and renounced Him, He hid His face both from it and from His sanctuary and consigned them to the sword. But whenever He called to mind the covenant which He had made with their forbears, He spared them a remnant and did not consign them to utter extinction.

So, in the Era of Anger, that era of the three hundred and ninety years, (1) when He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, He took care of them and brought to blossom alike out of the priesthood and out of the laity that root which had been planted of old, allowing it once more to possess the land and to grow fat in the richness of its soil. Then they realized their iniquity and knew that they had been at fault.

For twenty years, however, they remained like blind men groping their way, (2) until at last God took note of their deeds, how that they were seeking Him sincerely, and He raised up for them one who would teach the Law correctly, (3) to guide them in the way of His heart and to demonstrate to future ages what He does to a generation that incurs His anger, that is, to the congregation of those that betray Hun and turn aside from His way.

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[*] From earlier copies found at Qumran it is now known that when this document was first published, in 1910, from medieval copies discovered in the Cairo Genizah, the pages were arranged in the wrong order. The correct sequence is here added in square brackets after the numeration of each major part. Parts I, III and V of the original text are missing from the Cairo manuscripts, but are preserved in fragments from Qumran. These, however, have not yet been fully published.

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The period in question was that whereof it is written, 'Like a stubborn heifer, Israel was stubborn' [Hos. 4.16]. It was the time when a certain scoffer arose to distil upon Israel the waters deceptive (4) and to lead them astray in a trackless waste, bringing low whatsoever had once been high, diverting them from the proper paths and removing the landmarks which their forbears had set up, to the end that through his efforts those curses cleaved to them which had been prescribed when the Covenant was concluded, and they were delivered to the sword.

Thus was avenged that breach of the Covenant which they had committed in seeking smooth things and in preferring delusion and in being constantly on the watch to breach the faith and in choosing to walk proudly and in justifying the wicked and condemning the righteous, and in abrogating the Covenant and annulling the pact, and in assailing the life of the righteous and abhorring all whose conduct was blameless, and in pursuing them with the sword, and in raising a general clamor against them. God then grew angry with their horde and utterly destroyed all their throng and treated all their works as an abominable thing unclean.

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Of God's Judgment On The Wicked And His Clemency To The Righteous (ii, 2-13)

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And now, listen to me, all who have entered the Covenant, and I will open your ears to the fate which attends the wicked.

God loves knowledge. Wisdom and sound sense has He posted before Him. Prudence and knowledge minister to Him. (5) Patience attends on him and abundant forgiveness, so that He may shrive the repentant But also with Him are might and power and great wrath, along with flames of fire and all the angels of destruction (6)—appointed for them that turn aside from His way and treat His ordinance as a thing to be shunned, to the end that they shall be left without remnant or survival.

Never, from the very beginning of the world, has God approved such men. He has always known what their actions would be, even before the foundations of them were laid. He has anathematized whole generations on account of bloodshed, hiding His face from the land. Their end has always been pre-determined. He has always foreknown, how long they would endure and the exact and precise extent of their continuance; yea, all that has happened in their several epochs throughout history, and likewise all that was to befall them.

Nevertheless, in all of their generations He has ever raised up for Himself duly designated men, so that He might provide survival for the earth and fill the face of the world with their seed. And to these has He ever revealed His holy spirit at the hands of His anointed (7) and has ever disclosed the truth; and He has clearly specified who they were. But those whom He hated He has always left to wander astray.

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Of Ancient Sinners (ii, 14—iii, 12)

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And now, children, listen to me, and I will open your eyes to see and understand how God acts, so that you may choose what He has desired and reject what He has hated, walking blamelessly in all His ways and not straying after thoughts of guilty lust or after whoring eyes. For many there be that have strayed thereby from olden times until now, and even strong heroes have stumbled thereby.

Because they walked in the stubbornness of their hearts, the Watchers of heaven fell; (8) yea, they were caught thereby because they kept not the commandments of God.

So too their sons, whose height was like the lofty cedars and whose bodies were as mountains. (9) They also fell.

So too 'all flesh that was upon the dry land'. (10) They also perished. These became as though they had never been, because they did their own pleasure and kept not the commandments of their Maker. In the end His anger was kindled against them.

In the same way, too, the sons of Noah went astray, (11) and thereby they and their families were cut off.

Abraham, however, did not walk in this way. Therefore, because he kept the commandments of God and did not prefer the desires of his own spirit, he was accounted the Friend of God (12) and transmitted this status in turn to Isaac and Jacob. They too kept the commandments, and they too were recorded as Friends of God and as partners in His everlasting Covenant.

But the sons of Jacob strayed in that way and they were punished for their aberration.

Their sons, too, when they were in Egypt, walked in the stubbornness of their hearts, plotting against the commandments of God and doing each what was right in his own eyes. Because they ate blood all their males were cut off in the wilderness. God said to them at Kadesh: 'Go up and possess the land' [Deut. 9.23], [but they followed the desire of] their own spirits and hearkened not to the voice of their Maker neither to the orders of their leader, but kept murmuring in their tents. So the anger of God was kindled against their horde. (13)

Their sons too perished by such conduct. Their kings were cut off through it, and their heroes perished through it, and their land was laid waste through it.

Thus, whenever in ancient tunes those who had entered the Covenant became guilty on this account, forsaking that Covenant of God, preferring their own pleasure and going astray after the stubbornness of their hearts, doing each man as he pleased, they were invariably delivered to the sword.

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Of The Righteous Remnant (iii, 12-iv, 6)

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Howbeit, with the rest of them—that is, with those that held fast to His commandments—God ever made good His everlasting Covenant with Israel, revealing to them the hidden things concerning which Israel in general had gone astray—even His holy sabbaths and His glorious festivals, His righteous ordinances, the ways of His truth and the purposes of His will, 'the which, if a man do, he shall live' [Lev. 18.5].

He opened for them a well with water abounding, (14) which they might dig. But them that spurned those waters He did not permit to live. And though they kept sullying themselves with human transgression and with filthy ways, and kept saying, "Tis our own concern', yet did God with His mysterious power shrive their iniquity and forgive their transgression and build for them in Israel a firmly established House the like of which has not existed from ancient times until this day.

They that hold fast unto Him are destined for life eternal, and theirs is all mortal glory, even as God has sworn unto them by the hand of the prophet Ezekiel, saying: The priests and the levites and the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, these it is that shall offer unto Me the fat and the blood' [Ezek. 44.15].

By 'priests' is meant those in Israel that repented and departed from the land of Judah. [By 'levites'] is meant those that associated themselves (15) with them. By 'sons of Zadok' is meant those elect of Israel that have been designated by name and that shall go on functioning in the last days. Behold, their names have been specified, the families into which they are to be born, the epochs in which they are to function, the full tale of their tribulations, the length of their sojourn in exile, and the precise nature of their deeds.

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Of The Reward Of The Faithful (iv, 6-12)

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These were the 'holy men' (16) of former times-the men whose sins God pardoned, who knew right for right and wrong for wrong. But all who up to the present time have succeeded them in carrying out explicitly the Law from which those ancients drew their lessons, them too will God forgive, in accordance with the Covenant which He made with those ancients to forgive their iniquities.

And when the present era is completed, there will be no more express affiliation with the house of Judah; every man will 'mount guard' for himself. The fence will be rebuilt, and the bounds be far-flung' [cf. Mic. 7.11]. (17)

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Of the works of Belial (iv, 12-v, 17)

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Meanwhile, however, Belial will be rampant in Israel, even as God has said through the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz: Terror and the pit and the trap shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of the land!' [Isa. 24.17]. The reference is to those three snares, viz. (a) whoredom, (b) lucre, and (c) desecration, concerning which Levi the son of Jacob said (18) that by making them look like three kinds of righteousness Belial ensnares Israel in them. He who escapes the one gets caught in the other, and he who escapes the other gets caught in the third.

Such men may be described as 'builders of a rickety wall' [Ezek. 13.10], or as persons that have 'walked after filth' [Hos. 5.11]. The 'filth' in question is the babbling preacher of whom God said, 'Babble-babble shall they preach' [Mic. 2.6]; while the fact that two words [viz. 'pit' and 'trap'] are used to describe the net in which they will be caught alludes to the whorish practice of taking two wives at the same time, the true basis of nature being the pairing of one male with one female, even as it is said (of Adam and Eve), 'A male and a female created He them' [Gen. 1.27], and of those that went into the ark, 'In pairs they entered' [Gen. 7.9]. Similarly, too, it is said concerning a prince: 'He shall not take more than one wife' [Deut 17.17]. (†) (19)

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[†] David, however, had never read the Book of Law, for it was sealed up in the ark and remained unopened in Israel from the day when Eleazar and Joshua and the Elders were gathered to their rest. The people worshiped Ashtoreth, while the ark remained hidden and unopened until indeed a Zadokite entered into office [in the person of Hilkiah the priest]. Accordingly, David's actions were not punished, save the spilling of the blood of Uriah, but God remitted the penalty for them.

This is part of the original text, but is here relegated to a footnote, as it would have been in a modern work, in order not to interrupt the sequence of thought.

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Such persons commit [desecration] inasmuch as they lie with women in their periods and do not put them aside, as enjoined in the Law. (20) Moreover, they marry the daughters of their brothers and sisters, whereas Moses has said: 'Thou shalt not enter into intimate relations with the sister of thy mother; she is thy mother's kin' [cf. Lev. 18.13]. (The laws of forbidden degrees are written, to be sure, with reference to males, but they hold good equally for females. A niece, for instance, who indulges in carnal intercourse with her paternal uncle is equally to be regarded as his kin.)

Furthermore, such men have desecrated the holy spirit within them, and with mocking tongue have opened their mouths against the statutes of God's Covenant, declaring, 'They have no foundation'. They have spoken disgracefully about them.

All such men may be described as persons that 'kindle a fire and set firebrands alight' [Isa. 50.11]. Of them it may be said that 'their webs are spiders' webs and their eggs basilisks' eggs' [Isa. 59.5]. None that have contact with them shall go unscathed; the more one does so, the more guilty he becomes—unless, of course, he does so under compulsion.

Throughout antiquity, however, God has always taken note of the deeds of such men, and His anger has always been kindled against their acts. Always, in fact, they have proved to be 'a witless folk' [Isa. 27.11], 'a nation void of sense' [Deut. 32.28] in that they lacked discernment.

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Of The Remnant (v, 17-vi, 11)

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When, in antiquity, Israel was first delivered, Moses and Aaron still continued in their charge, through the help of the Angel of Lights, (‡) even though Belial in his cunning had set up Jannes and his brother in opposition to them. (21)

Similarly, at the time when the land was destroyed, men arose who removed the ancient landmarks and led Israel astray; and it was, indeed, because they uttered sedition against the commandments of God which He had given through Moses and through His holy anointed priest Aaron, and because they gave forth false prophecies in order to subvert Israel from God, that the land was laid utterly waste.

Nevertheless, God still remembered the Covenant which He had made with their forbears and raised from the priesthood men of discernment and from the laity men of wisdom, and He made them hearken to Him. And these men 'dug the well'—that well whereof it is written, 'Princes digged it, nobles of the people delved it, with the aid of a mehoqeq' [Num. 21.18]. The well' in question is the Law.

They that 'digged' are those of Israel who repented and departed from the land of Judah to sojourn in 'the land of Damascus'. (§) God called them all 'princes' because they went in search of Him, and their glory was never gainsaid (?) by any man's mouth. (22) The term mehoqeq [which can mean 'lawgiver' as well as 'stave'] refers to the man who expounds the Law. Isaiah has employed an analogous piece of imagery when in allusion to the Law he has spoken of God's 'producing a tool for His work' [cf. Isa. 54.16].

As for the 'nobles of the people', these are the men that come, throughout the Era of Wickedness, to delve the well, using as their staves [Heb. me-hoq-eq] the statutes [Heb. huq-im] which the Lawgiver prescribed [Heb. haqaq ha-mehoqeq] for them to walk in. Without such 'implements', they would, indeed, never achieve their goal until such time as the true Expositor arises at the end of days.

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[‡] Heb Urim. See Manual of Discipline, iii.20.
[§] Scarcely to be taken literally. See above, pp. 5, 27.

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Of The Obligation Of The Covenant (vi, 11-vii, 6a)

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All that enter the covenant with no intention of going into the sanctuary to keep the flame alive on the altar do so in vain. They have as good as shut the door. Of them God has said: 'Who is there among you that would shut the door, and who of you would not keep alive the flame upon Mine altar?'

In vain [Mal. 1.10] [are all their deeds] if, in an era of wickedness, they do not take heed to act in accordance with the explicit injunctions of the Law;

to keep away from men of ill-repute; to hold themselves aloof from ill-gotten gain; not to defile themselves by laying hands on that which has been vowed or devoted to God or on the property of the sanctuary;

not to rob the poor of God's people; not to make widows their prey or murder the fatherless; to distinguish between unclean and clean and to recognize holy from profane;

to keep the sabbath in its every detail, and the festivals and fasts in accordance with the practice laid down originally by the men who entered the new covenant in 'the land of Damascus'; (23)

to pay their required dues in conformity with the detailed rules thereof;

to love each man his neighbor like himself; to grasp the hand of the poor, the needy and the stranger; to seek each man the welfare of his fellow; to cheat not his own kin; to abstain from whoredom, as is meet; to bring no charge against his neighbor except by due process, and not to nurse grudges from day to day; to keep away from all unclean things, in accordance with what has been prescribed in each case and with the distinctions which God Himself has drawn for them; not to sully any man the holy spirit within him. (24)

Howbeit, for all that perform these rules in holiness unimpaired, according to all the instruction that has been given them—for them will God's Covenant be made good, that they shall be preserved for a thousand generations, even as it is written: 'He keepeth Covenant and loyalty with them that love Him and keep His commandments, even unto a thousand generations' [Deut. 7.9].

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Of Family Life (vii, 6a-9)

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If members of the community happen to be living in encampments, (25) in accordance with a usage which obtains in this country, and if they marry and beget children, (26) they are [in such matters] to follow the precepts of the Law [Torah] and the disciplinary regulations therein prescribed for the relationship of husband to wife and of father to child. (**)

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[**] Heb. even as God has said: 'Between a man and his wife and between a father and his son'—a loose quotation from Num. 30.17.

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Of the future requital of the disobedient (vii, 9-viii, 21)

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All that reject these things shall be doomed to extinction when God visits the world to requite the wicked—that is, when that ensues which is described by the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz in the words: 'He will bring upon thee and upon thy kindred and upon thy father's house days the like of which have not come since the time that Ephraim departed from Judah' [Isa. 7.17].

In other words, the same situation will then obtain as obtained at the time of the great schism between the two houses of Israel, when Ephraim departed from Judah. At that time all who turned back were delivered to the sword, whereas all who stood fast were vouchsafed escape to 'the land of the north'. (27)

It is to this that allusion is also made in the statement: 'I will exile Sikkuth your Icing and Kiyyun your image, the star of your God ... beyond Damascus' [cf. Amos 5.26].

The expression 'Sikkuth your king' refers to the Books of the Law, [for the word 'Sikkuth' is to be explained from the like-sounding sukkah, 'tabernacle'] (††) as in the passage of Scripture which says: 'I will raise up the fallen sukkah [tabernacle] of David' [Amos 9.11].

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[††] These words have here been inserted in order to bring out the word-play in the Hebrew original.

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The expression 'king' denotes the congregation; (28) and the expression 'Kiyyun your image' refers to the books the prophets (29) whose words the House of Israel has spised. (30)

As for the 'star', that refers to every such interpreter of the Law as indeed repairs to 'Damascus', (31) even as it is written: There shall step forth a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel' [Num. 24.17]. (32) The 'sceptre', it may be added, is the leader of the community, for in the exercise of his office he shall 'batter all the sons of pride', (33) as the Scripture says.

In the former visitation, these faithful men escaped, while those that turned back were delivered to the sword. Such will be the fate also of those who in the latter days will have entered God's Covenant but not held fast to these things. Them will God punish unto extinction by the hand of Belial.

The day on which God will carry out the punishment will be that to which the prophet alluded when he said: The princes of Judah have become like them that remove landmarks; I will pour out My wrath upon them like water' [Hos. 5.10]. They shall hope for healing, but the blem<ish> shall cl<i>ng to them.

They are all of them apostates in that they have not turned from the way of the treacherous but have sullied themselves with wantonness and with wicked lucre and with the nursing of grudges against their fellows and with hatred of their neighbors. They have cheated their own kin and have had contact with lewdness and have been overbearing by virtue of wealth and possession and have done every man of them what was right in his own eyes, and have preferred the stubbornness of their own hearts, and have not kept aloof from the rabble, but have behaved lawlessly and high handedly, walking in the way of the wicked.

Concerning them has God said: Their wine shall pro the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps' [Deut 32.33]. The 'wine' in question is their conduct; the 'se-pents' are the kings of the nations; and the 'venom [Heb. ro'sh] of asps' is the chief [Heb. ro'sh] of the Grecian kings who will come to wreak vengeance upon them.

Those that have been 'builders of the rickety wall' and 'daubers of veneer upon it' (34) have never considered all this, because the man who walks in wind, who raises whirlwinds, who spouts lies—the kind of man against all of whose ilk God's wrath has always been kindled—has kept spouting at them.

Howbeit, what Moses said of old, 'Not for thy righteousness nor for the uprightness of thy heart art thou going in to possess these nations but because of His love wherewith He loved thy forefathers and because He would keep the oath' [cf. Deut. 9.5], (35) applies equally to those in Israel who in those latter days show repentance and eschew the way of the rabble. The same love which God showed to the men of old who pledged themselves to follow Him will He show also to their successors. The ancestral Covenant shall stand good for them.

But inasmuch as He hates and abominates all that 'build a rickety wall', His anger has been kindled against them; and all who reject His commandments and forsake them and go on walking in the stubbornness of their own hearts will be visited with such judgment as has been described. It is to this that Jeremiah was referring when he spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, (36) and Elisha when he spoke to his servant Gehazi. (37)

All those that entered into the new covenant in 'the land of Damascus' but subsequently relapsed and played false and turned away from the well of living waters shall not be reckoned as of the communion of the people nor inscribed in the roster of it throughout the period from the time the teacher of the community is gathered to his rest until that in which the lay and the priestly messiah [anointed] assume their office. (38)

The same applies also to all that entered the company of the 'specially holy and blameless' (39) but were loath to carry out the rules imposed upon the upright. Every such man is, as it were, like 'one molten in the furnace' [Ezek. 22.22]. When his deeds come clearly to light, he shall be cast out of that company as being one who has no share among the disciples of God.

Men of knowledge shall reprove him according to his perfidy until he repent and thereby resume his place among the specially holy and blameless—that is, until it become clear that his actions are again in accordance with the interpretation of the Law adopted by the specially holy and blameless. Meanwhile, no man shall have commerce with him in matters either of property or of employment, for he has been cursed by all the holy ones of God on high.

The same applies again—in the future as it did in the past—to all who commit their hearts to idolatry and walk in the stubbornness of their hearts. All such have no portion in the household of the Law [Torah].

The same applies, once again, to all of their fellows that relapse in the company of scoffers. These too shall be judged; for they will have spoken error against the righteous ordinances and have rejected the Covenant of God and the pledge which they swore in 'the land of Damascus' —that is, the new covenant. (40) Neither they nor their families shall have a portion in the household of the Law [Torah].

About forty years will elapse from the death of the teacher of the community until all the men who take up arms and relapse in the company of the Man of False-hood are brought to an end. (41) At that time, the wrath of God will be kindled against Israel, and that will ensue which is described by the prophet when he says: 'No king shall there be nor priest nor judge nor any that reproves aright' [cf. Hos. 3.4].

But they of Jacob that have repented, that have kept the Covenant of God, shall then speak each to his neighbor to bring him to righteousness, to direct his steps upon the way. And God will pay heed to their words and hearken, and He will draw up a record of those that fear Him and esteem His name, (42) to the end that salvation shall be revealed for all God-fearing men. Then ye shall again distinguish the righteous from the wicked, him that serves God from him that serves Him not. And God will 'show mercy unto thousands, unto them that love Him and keep His commandments'—yea, even unto a thousand generations.

As for those schismatics (43) who, during the era when Israel was behaving perfidiously and defiling the sanctuary, indeed departed from the Holy City, relying (solely) on God, but who subsequently, without much [ad]o, (‡‡) reverted to the popular [tre]nd—all of those shall be subjected to judgment by the sacred council, (44) each according to his character.

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[‡‡] Literally, with fe[w] words.

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Those too who indeed entered the Covenant but subsequently broke through the bounds of the Law—all of those shall be 'cut off from the midst of the camp' at the time when God's glory is made manifest to Israel. And along with them shall go those that sought to turn Judah to wickedness in the days when it was being put to the test.

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Of The Future Reward Of The Faithful (B. xx, 27-34)

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Howbeit, all that hold fast to these enactments, going and coming in accordance with the Law; that hearken to the voice of the Teacher; that make confession before God, saying: Just and truthful are Thy judgments against us, for we have done wickedly, both we and our fathers, in that we have gone contrary to the statutes of the Covenant; all who raise not their hands against His holy statutes or His righteous judgments or His truthful ordinances;

all who learn the lessons of the former judgments wherewith the men of the community were adjudged in time past; all who give ear to him who imparts the true interpretation of the Law and who do not controvert the right ordinances when they hear them—all of these shall rejoice and their hearts shall be strong, and they shall prevail over all that dwell in the world. And God will accept their atonement, and because they took refuge in His holy name they shall indeed see salvation at His hand.

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[III]

* * *

II [IV-cont.]

A. Code For Urban Communities

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Of laying capital charges (ix, 1)

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The law which says that no person under doom from men shall be bought off, but must be put to death [cf. Lev. 27.29], is to be understood in the sense that any man who, as the result of a private vow, gets a fellow human being doomed to death under the laws of the Gentiles is himself to be put to death. (45)

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Of Grudges (ix, 2-8)

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And as to the law which says, Thou shalt not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people' [Lev. 19.18]-if any of those that have entered the Covenant bring charges against his neighbor without proving them by witnesses, or if he bring such charges merely through temper, or if he tell tales to his superiors simply to bring his neighbor into contempt, he ranks as one who takes vengeance and bears a grudge.

Scripture says of God Himself that it is only upon His adversaries that He takes vengeance, and only against His enemies that He bears a grudge [Nah. 1.2]. Accordingly, if a man keep silent from day to day and then bring a charge against his neighbor in the heat of anger, it is as if he were laying capital charges against him, for he has not carried out the commandment of God Who said to him, Thou shalt surely reprove thy neighbor lest thou incur sin on his account' [Lev. 19.17].

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Of Involuntary Oaths (ix, 8-10)

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Now regarding oaths. The principle that 'thou art not to take the law into thine own hands' (46) implies that a man who compels another to take an oath in the open field and not in the presence of judges or at their order has taken the law into his own hands.

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Of Lost Property (ix, 10-15)

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In the case of a loss, if it is not known who stole the particular article from the property of the camp in which the theft occurs, the owner is to be required to make a solemn deposition on oath. Anyone who hears it, knows the culprit and does not tell, is then to be considered culpable.

If a man makes restitution for expropriated property and brings the required guilt-offering, but there are no claimants to that property, he is to make his confession to the priest, and everything except the actual ram of the sin-offering is to go to the latter.

Lost property that is found but unclaimed is to be entrusted to the priests, because the man who retrieved it may not know the law about it. If the owners cannot be discovered [at the time], the priests are to take it into custody.

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Of Testimony (ix, 16-x, 3)

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In the case of offenses against the Torah, if a man sees such an offense committed but is alone at the time, and if the matter be one of a capital nature, he is to disclose it to the overseer by bringing a charge in the presence of the alleged culprit. The overseer is then to make a record of it.

If the man repeat the offense, this time also in the presence of one man only, and if the latter come in turn and inform the overseer—in that case, i.e., if the offender do it again and be again caught by only one person-the case against him is to be regarded as complete.

However, if there be two witnesses, and they concur in their statements, the culprit is to be excluded from his customary degree of purity only if those witnesses are trust worthy and if they lay information before the overseer on the very day when they saw the man [committing the offense].

In cases involving property, two trustworthy witnesses are required. (47) In those, however, that involve [no question of restitution but simply of] exclusion from the degree of purity, one alone is sufficient.

No man who has not yet completed his probationary period with the community and has not yet passed the statutory examination as a truly God-fearing person (48) is to be permitted as a witness before its judges in a capital case.

No man who has flagrantly transgressed the commandment is to be deemed a trustworthy witness against his neighbor until he has succeeded in winning re-acceptance into the community.

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Of Judges (x, 4-10)

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This is the rule concerning the judges of the community.

Periodically, a complement of ten men shall be selected from the community. Four of them shall belong to the tribe of Levi and Aaron, and six shall be laymen. (49) They shall be men versed in the Book of Study (50) and in the fundamentals of the Covenant. Their minimum age shall be twenty-five, and their maximum sixty. No man over sixty shall occupy judicial office in the community; for through the perfidy of man the potential span of human life has been reduced, and in the heat of His anger against the inhabitants of the earth, God decreed of old that their mental powers should recede before they complete their days.

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Of ritual ablutions (x, 10-13)

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Now concerning purification by water. No one is to bathe in dirty water or in water which is too scant to fill a pail (?). (51)

No man is to purify himself with water drawn in a vessel or in a rock-pool where there is insufficient to fill a pail (?). If an unclean person come in contact with such water, he merely renders it unclean; and the same is true of water drawn in a vessel.

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Of the Sabbath (x, 14-xi, 18)

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Now concerning the proper observance of the Sabbath.

No one is to do any work on Friday from the moment that the sun's disk stands distant from the gate by the length of its own diameter; for this is what Scripture implies when it says explicitly, Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (52)

On the Sabbath day, no one is to indulge in ribald or empty talk. No one is to claim repayment of debts. No one is to engage in lawsuits concerning property and gain. No one is to talk about labor or work to be done the next day. No one is to go out into the field while it is still Sabbath with the intention of resuming his work immediately the Sabbath ends. No one is to walk more than a thousand cubits outside his city. (53)

No one is to eat on the Sabbath day anything that has not been prepared in advance. He is not to eat anything that happens to be lying about in the field, neither is he to drink of anything that was not [previously] in the camp. If, however, he is travelling, he may go down to bathe and may drink wherever he happens to be.

No one is to commission a Gentile to transact business for him on the Sabbath day. No one is to wear soiled clothes or clothes that have been put in storage unless they first be laundered and rubbed with frankincense. No one is to observe a voluntary fast on the Sabbath. No one is to follow his beast to pasture for a distance of more than two thousand cubits from his city. No one is to raise his hand to strike it with his fist.

If the beast be stubborn, he is not to take it outdoors. No one is to take anything out of his house, or bring anything in from outside. If he is [lodging] in a booth, he is likewise to take nothing out nor bring anything in. No one is to break open a pitch-sealed vessel on the Sabbath. No one is to carry ointments upon his person or walk around with them (§§) on the Sabbath.

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[§§] Literally, 'go or come'.

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No one is to pick up rock or dust in a dwelling place. Nurses are not to carry babies around on the Sabbath. No one is to put pressure on his male or female servant or on his hired help on the Sabbath. No one is to foal a beast on the Sabbath day. Even if it drop its young into a cistern or a pit, he is not to lift it out on the Sabbath.

No one is to stop for the Sabbath in a place near the heathen. No one is to desecrate the Sabbath for the sake of wealth or gain.

If a human being falls into a place where there is water or fire, (54) one may bring him up by means of a ladder or a rope or some other instrument

No one is to present any offering upon the altar on the Sabbath except the statutory Sabbath burnt-offering—as the Scripture puts it, 'your Sabbath-offerings exclusively' [Lev. 23.38]. (55)

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Of The Defilement Of Holy Places (xi, 18-xii, 2)

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No one is to send to the altar either burnt-offering or meal-offering or frankincense or wood by the hand of one suffering from any of the proscribed impurities, thus permitting him to render the altar impure; for Scripture says, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, but the mere prayer of the righteous is like an acceptable offering' [Prov. 15.8].

As for those who come to the house of worship, no one is to come in a state of uncleanness requiring ablution. Such a man is either to anticipate the sounding of the trumpets of assembly or else to stay behind, so that [the rest] will not have to stop the entire service.

[ ]; it is holy.

No one is to lie with a woman in the city of the sanctuary, thereby defiling the city of the sanctuary with their impurity.

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Of Demoniacal Possession (xii, 2-6)

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Any man who is dominated by demonic spirits to the extent that he gives voice to apostasy is to be subject to the judgment upon sorcerers and wizards.

If, however, a man desecrate the Sabbath or the festivals through (mental) aberration, he is not to be put to death. In that case, it is the duty of men to keep him under observation.

If he recovers, they are to watch him for seven years, and only thereafter may he be readmitted to public assemblies.

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Of Relations With The Heathen (xii, 6-11)

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No one is to put forth his hand to shed the blood of a heathen for the sake of wealth or gain. Moreover, to prevent the levelling of defamatory charges, no one is to expropriate any of their goods except by the decision of an Israelite court.

No one is to sell clean beasts or fowl to the heathen, lest they use them for sacrifices. No one is to sell them any of the produce of his threshing-floor or winepress or any of his possessions. Nor is he to sell to them any of his male or female servants that may have joined him in the Covenant of Abraham. (56)

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Of Food (xii, 11-15)

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No one is to defile his person by eating any unclean animal or reptile. This rule includes the larvae of bees and any living entity that creeps in water.

Fish are not to be eaten unless they are ripped open while still alive and their blood poured out. (57)

As for the various kinds of locust, these are to be put in fire or water while they are still alive; for that is what their nature demands.

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Of Contagious Impurity (xii, 15-18)

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When wood, stone or dust is contaminated by human uncleanness, the degree of the contamination is to be determined by the rules governing that particular form of uncleanness; and it is by this standard that all contact with them is to be gauged.

When a dead body lies in a house, every utensil—even a nail or a peg in the wall—is to be regarded as defiled, just as much as implements of work.

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Epilogue (xii, 19-22)

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The foregoing is the rule concerning the various regulations for distinguishing clean from unclean and for recognizing holy from profane, such as it is to obtain in the urban communities of Israel. It is by these ordinances that the enlightened man may correctly determine his human relations on this or that particular occasion; and it is in this manner that the progeny of Israel is to conduct itself in order to avoid damnation. (58)

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B. Code For Camp-Communities

Prologue (xii, 22-xiii, 7)

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Here, however, is the rule for such camp-communities as may come into existence throughout the Era of Wickedness—that is, until the priestly and the lay 'messiah' again assume office. (59) The people who follow these rules must consist in any given instance of a minimum of ten, (60) and beyond that must be grouped by thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

In any place where there are ten, a priest versed in the Book of Study is not to be absent; 'by his word shall they all be ruled' [Gen. 41.40]. If, however, he is not experienced in all these matters, the members of the camp may elect by vote one of the levites, 'by whose orders they may come and go'. (61) Nevertheless, whenever a decision has to

be rendered involving the law of bodily blemishes, the priest is to come and officiate in the camp, the overseer instructing him in the detailed interpretation of the Law. Moreover, if the priest be feeble-minded, that official must simply keep him under lock and key at all other times; or it is nonetheless by the priests that the decision in such matters must be rendered. (62)

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Of The Overseer (63) (xiii, 7-19)

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This is the rule for the overseer of the camp.

It is his duty to enlighten the masses about the works of God, and to make them understand His wondrous powers. He is to tell them in detail the story of things that happened in the past. He is to show them the same compassion as a father shows for his children. He is to bring back all of them that stray, as does a shepherd his flock. (64) He is to loose all the bonds that constrain them, so that there be no one in his community who is oppressed or crushed.

He is also to examine every new adherent to his community regarding his conduct, intelligence, strength, valor and wealth, and to register him in his due status, according to his stake in the portion of Truth. No member of the camp is to have authority to introduce anyone into the community in defiance of the camp's overseer.

No one who has entered the Covenant is to have any traffic with the 'men of corruption' [i.e., outsiders] except in spot cash transactions. No one is to enter into any sort of commercial partnership without informing the camp's overseer. Moreover, if he has made an agreement, but does not. ... [Four fragmentary lines.]

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Epilogue (xiii, 20-xiv, 2)

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Such, then, is to be the disposition of the camps throughout the Era of Wickedness. Those who do not adhere to these things shall not succeed in reoccupying their native soil [ ]. These, in fact, are the regulations for the social conduct of the 'enlightened' until God eventually visits the earth, even as He has said: "There shall come upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy kinsfolk days the like of which have not been since Ephraim departed from Judah' [Isa. 7.17]. With those that follow them God's covenant will be confirmed; they will be delivered from all the snares of corruption. The foolish, however, will [ ] and be punished.

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Of Rank And Precedence (xiv, 3-12)

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This is the rule for the disposition of all camp-settlements.

Everyone is to be registered by name in a census; first, the priests; second, the levites; third, the laymen; and fourth, the proselytes. Each individual is to be registered by name, one after another; first, the priests; second, the levites; third, the laymen; and fourth, the proselytes. It is in this order that they are to be seated at public sessions, and in this order that their opinions are to be invited on all matters.

The priest who holds office over the masses is to be from thirty to sixty years old, versed in the Book of Study and in all the regulations of the Torah, so as to be able to declare them on each appropriate occasion.

As for the overseer of all the camps, he is to be from thirty to fifty years old, adept in human relations and in all the varied languages of men. (65) It is as he determines that those who enter the community are to be admitted each in his assigned order. Anything that any one has say in a matter of dispute or litigation, he is to say to the overseer.

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Of The Communal Economy (xiv, 12-18)

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This is the rule for regulating public needs.

Their wages for at least two days per month are to be handed over to the overseer. The judges are then to take thereof and give it away for the benefit of orphans. The are also to support therefrom the poor and needy,

aged who are dying, the [ ] persons captured by foreign peoples, unprotected girls, unmarriageable virgins, general communal officials [ ].

This, in specific form, is the way [ ] is to be disposed [ ] [com]munally.

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Of Personal Morality (xiv, 18-22)

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And these, in specific form, are the regulations which they are to follow throughout the Era of Wickedness, until the priestly and lay 'messiahs' enter upon their office and expiate their iniquities.

No one is to practice conscious falsehood in matters of money [ ]; he is to be mulcted [of his rations] for six days.

If a man utter [ ], [or harbor an] unjustified [grudge against bis neighbor, he is to be mulcted for one] year [ ].

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III [IV, init.]

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Of Oaths (xv, 1-xvi, 20)

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No one is to take the oath by EL- (*) or by AD—, (†) but only by a formula of assent which invokes the curses prescribed in the Covenant [cf. Lev. 26.14—45]. (66) Nor is he to make mention in this connection of the Law of Moses, for (the name of God is spelled out in that Law); so that if he swears by it and then transgresses, he commits profanation of the Holy Name; whereas if he swears before the judges by the curses of the Covenant—then, if he transgresses, he becomes liable only for a guilt-offering, confession and restitution, but does not have to pay the penalty of death. (66a)

It is to be a perpetual ordinance for the whole of Israel that whoever enters into the Covenant is to impose the oath of the Covenant also upon his sons when they reach the age for the preliminary examination.

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[*] The initial letters of ELohim, the Hebrew word for 'God'.
[†] The initial letters of ADonai, the Hebrew word for 'Lord'.

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Similarly, it is to be the rule throughout the Epoch of Wickedness that anyone who repents his corrupt conduct is to be enrolled, on the day when he speaks of it to the general overseer, with an oath binding him to the Covenant which Moses made with Israel—that is, with a covenanted obligation that [in all] the varied activities of his life he will return to the Law of Moses with all his heart and soul. No one, however, is to acquaint him with the regulations of the community prior to his actually standing in the presence of the overseer, lest, when the latter examines him, he turn out to be a dolt. But once the overseer has sworn him by oath to return to the Law of Moses with all his heart and soul, he is to be liable to punishment for any breach of faith. If he fail to understand anything in the Law which is patently revealed to the normal mind, the overseer is to [ ] and then issue an order concerning him that he be kept in confinement for a full year on the grounds of its having been ascertained that he is feeble-minded and deranged.

In the case of one who is a chronic imbecile or is insane, the judge is to come and [ ]. Such a man is not to appear in public. ... [The next two lines are fragmentary, and four more have been lost.]

There is an ancient text which says: 'It was by the Law of Moses that God made the covenant with you and with all Israel'. (67) It is for this reason that the man [who enters the Covenant] must pledge himself 'to return to the Law of Moses'. Therein is everything explicitly spelled out, while an exact specification of the time when Israel will be blind to all these things is spelled out with equal exactness in the Book of the Divisions of the Times into their Jubilees and Weeks. (68)

On the day that a man pledges himself to return to the Law of Moses, the Angel of Obstruction (69) will start receding from him—that is, if he keep his word. It is in line with this that Abraham underwent circumcision on the day that he attained true knowledge.

In all cases where a man pledges himself by a binding oath to perform any precept of the Law, he is not to free himself therefrom even at the price of death. For this is what Scripture means when it says, That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe', i.e., 'to make good' [Deut. 23.23]. On the other hand, in all cases where a man pledges himself by a binding oath to depart from the Law, he is not to confirm it even at the price of death.

Now, concerning a woman's oath. Scripture says that it is her husband's duty in certain cases to void her oath [cf. Num. 30.14]. He is not to do so, however, if he does not know whether it is one that ought to be made good or voided. If it involves transgression of the Covenant, he is to void it and not make it good. The same rule applies also to her father.

Now, concerning the rules for free-will offerings. No one is to vow for the altar anything acquired by violence; nor, indeed, are the priests to accept from a layman anything so acquired. No one is to offer polluted food for sacred purposes. That is what Scripture means when it says, They trap each man his neighbor in respect to the consecrated thing' [Mic. 7.2].... [Five fragmentary lines.]

The Letter Of The Law: Ordinances

* * *

Cp. Deut. 23.25-26

If any man thereof (1) construct a threshing floor or a wine press, anyone belonging to the community of Israel (2) who comes upon it and himself has nothing (3) may feed himself from it and gather for himself and [his] household]. Within the field he may eat to his satisfaction, (4) but he may not bring anything home to deposit it (there). (5)

Cp. Exod. 30.11-16

Regarding the assessment of half a shekel which everyone is to furnish as coverage for his own person, (6) (for this) there is to be a single [scale of value] throughout his life: (7) the shekel is to be estimated as twenty gerahs, in accordance with the standard used for sacred purposes. (8) (Thus,) the 600,000 men (with Moses in the Wilderness) (9) would have had to pay (a total of) one hundred talents; (10) each of the three (customary divisions of the armed forces), (11) half a talent; (12) and a contingent of fifty men, (13) half a mina, i.e. 25 shekels ...

(There follows a specification of equivalencies, but the text is too fragmentary for translation.)

Ephah and bath are equivalent. (14)

. . . . . (15)

Cp. Lev. 25.42

They may not serve as slaves to Gentiles, (living) among foreigners, [for when the LORD brought them out of the land of] He enjoined upon them the commandment that they should not be sold as a slave is sold. [For the settlement of legal disputes there shall be a council of te]n laymen and two priests, (16) and it is to these twelve that recourse must be had ... If, within (the community of) Israel, a capital charge be preferred, these men's opinion must be sought.

Cp. Jos. 1.18

Anyone who offers defiance and takes the law into his own hands, (17) is to be put to death.

Cp. Deut. 22.5

A woman is not to put on the accoutrements of a man; and a man is not to clothe himself in the cloak of a woman, nor wear a woman's shift; for that is an abomination. (18)

Cp. Deut. 22.14-21

If a man impugn the virtue (19) of an Israelite virgin, alleging that he married her [under false pretenses], she shall be reliably examined, and if he has not lied about her, she shall be put to death. But if (it be shown that) he has borne [false] witness against her, he shall be fined two minas, and he may not20 divorce her for the rest of his life... (The rest is fragmentary)

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Our God and God of our fathers,

bless us with the threefold blessing in the Law,
written by the hand of Thy servant Moses,
spoken by the mouth of Aaron and his sons,
the priests, Thy holy people:

'The Lord bless thee, and keep thee;
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
and be gracious unto thee;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee,
and give thee peace'.

Ancient Jewish Prayer; based on NUMBERS 6.24-26

A Formulary Of Blessings

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A. For blessing laymen

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Form of blessing (greeting) to be used by the
'enlightened' in blessing (greeting) those who
fear [God, do] His will, keep His commandments,
hold fast to His holy Covenant and
walk blamelessly [in all the ways of] His truth
—that is, such men as He has chosen to be
partners in an eternal Covenant [which shall]
stand for ever.

THE LORD BLESS THEE [from His holy habitation] and open for thee from heaven the perpetual spring un[fail-ing]. (1)

[ ] in/at thy hand, and FAVOR THEE with all manner of blessing, and make thee [privy] to that knowledge which is possessed by the Holy Beings. (2)

[Verily, with Him is] a perpetual spring, and He [withholds] not [living waters from] such as thirst (for them). So mayest thou too [drink therefrom]. (3)

[THE LORD KEEP THEE from all evil and] deliver thee from all [domination by Belial], (4) and may the frenzy thereof be (destroyed) without re[mnant].

[THE LORD KEEP THEE and deliver thee] from every satanic spirit (*) [and from every corrupting spirit]. (5)

[There follow three broken lines, in two of which there is specific mention of 'holiness' (or of something holy) and the third of which refers to 'holy teaching.'

This is followed in turn by three more broken lines, the first and last of which contain specific reference to 'eternity' (or to something eternal), and the second of which alludes to 'all appointed times'.]

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[*] Heb. 'satan', i.e., adversary.

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THE LORD KEEP [unto thee the covenant sworn to] thy fathers. (6)

[There follow five broken lines containing various elaborations of the formula, THE LORD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UNTO THEE.]

THE LORD FAVOR THEE with [His salvation] [ ] and cause thee to delight in peace [abounding]. (7)

THE LORD FAVOR THEE also with [ ].

THE LORD FAVOR THEE with the holy spirit, with lovingkindness [ ].

THE LORD FAVOR THEE also with [His] eternal covenant and [ ] thee [ ].

THE LORD FAVOR THEE by visiting upon thee just judgment, [that] thy [foot may not] stumble [upon thy way]. (8)

THE LORD FAVOR THEE also in all thy works [and in all that] thy [hand undertaketh] and in all the [ ]. (9)

[THE LORD FAVOR THEE also with insight into] eternal truth.

[THE LORD GIVE PEACE unto thee and] unto all thine offspring [ ].

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B. For blessing the high priest

[Introductory words missing.]

THE LORD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UNTO THEE and [accept] the sweet savor of [thy sacrifices] (10) and choose as His own all them that abide in [thy] priestly care, and take note of all thy sacred acts (11) and be pleased with all thy seas[onal offices, (12) and increase] thy seed.

THE LORD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE unto all thy congregation.

THE LORD LIFT UP upon thy head [a crown of honor], (13) and may thy [ ] [abide] in glory [eternal], and may He hallow thy seed with glory everlasting.

THE LORD LIFT UP [HIS COUNTENANCE UNTO THEE] and grant thee grace [and peace everlast]ing, and [an inheritance in] the kingdom of [heaven]. (14)

[THE LORD LIFT UP thy soul and raise thy spirit] out of the flesh (15) and [set it] amid the holy angels. (16)

[THE LORD LIFT UP His banner (17) and] do battle for thee [at the head of] thy thousands [against this] iniquitous generation.

[Three fragmentary lines.]

[THE LORD LIFT UP His sword for thee] (18) to humble many peoples before thee [ ], and mayest thou not [rely] upon worldly wealth, to become estranged from the perpetual spring, [but find it when] thou seekest it

Verily, God stayeth the foundations of the earth. [So may He stay thy steps.]

[Verily, He stablisheth the world upon its basis. So] may He stablish thy wellbeing (19) for ever.

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C. For blessing the priests

Formula of blessing to be used by the 'enlightened' in blessing the sons of Zadok—that is, the priests whom God has chosen to keep His covenant firm for ever, to act as the testers of all matters involving the performance of His rules among His people and to teach them according to that which He hath commanded, to the end that they may confirm His covenant in truth and supervise correctly [the performance] of all His ordinances and walk in the way which He hath chosen:

THE LORD BLESS THEE from His holy habitation and set thee crowned in majesty (20) in the midst of the Holy Beings, and renew unto thee the covenant of priesthood everlasting, and give thee place in the holy habitation. (21)

By thine offices may all princes be judged, and all the [lords] of the peoples by thine unstained lips.

May He give thee as thine inheritance the first-fruits of all delights, (22) and at thy hand may He bless all mortal designs.

May He be pleased with [all] the steps of thy feet, and make thee acceptable in the eyes of men and of the Holy Beings.

May He apportion unto thee (23) [ ] and mayest thou immerse thyself therein. And all mortal [ ] and delights [ ].

May He set eternal blessings as a crown upon thy head, and fill thine hands with holiness and [ ].

[Line missing.]

May He cause thee to do rightly in all thy ministrations. For thee hath He chosen [to perform the office] and to carry out the charge at the head of them that be sacred, and to give His blessing unto thy people, and thee [hath He appointed] that the men of the company of God may be [rendered pure?] at thy hand and not at the hand of any monarch or [potentate; and with thee He speaketh] as a man unto his neighbor; and thou art as a ministering angel in the holy habitation.

[Mayest thou serve ever] unto the glory of the God of Hosts, and mayest thou be about Him as one that ministereth in a royal palace. And mayest thou share the lot of the ministering angels (†) and be one in the company of [the Holy Beings] for all time and for all the epochs of eternity. [For He hath entrusted thee with] His judgments, and hath made thee an holy thing among His people, to be as a light [ ] to [illumine] the world with knowledge and to enlighten the faces of men far and wide.

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[†] Heb. 'angel(s) of the Presence'.

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May He set upon thine head a diadem to proclaim thee holy of holies, (24) for [it is thou that evincest His] holiness and showest forth the glory of His name.

And may His Holy Beings [wait upon thee].

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D. For blessing the king

[Introductory 'words missing.]

Thou hast been set apart from [all other men] [ ] them that see thee [ ].

May He renew unto thee [ ].

[Line missing.]

[ ] who hath commissioned thee [ ] for all time and for all the seasons of eternity. And may He not gi[ve] thy glory [unto another].

May God [set] the fear of thee upon all that hear tell of thee, and be thy majesty [upon all that] [ ].

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E. For blessing the prefect of the community (24a)

Formula of blessing to be used by the 'enlightened' in blessing (greeting) the prefect of the community—that is, the man whom God hath chosen to represent His power and through whom He renews the covenant contracted with the community, to the end that He may maintain the sovereignty of His people for ever, and [whom He has appointed to judge the needy in righteousness] and to reprove in equi[ty the me]ek of the earth, (25) and to walk blamelessly in all the ways of [His truth], and to confirm His holy covenant when distress befalls them that seek Him:

THE LORD LIFT thee up unto the summit of the world, like a strong tower on a lofty wall. (26)

Mayest thou [smite nations] with the vehemence of thy mouth. With thy rod mayest thou dry up the [fountain-heads] of the earth, and with the breath of thy lips mayest thou slay the wicked. (27)

[THE LORD FAVOR THEE with a spirit of sound counsel] and with perpetual strength and with a spirit of knowledge and with the fear of God. (28)

May righteousness be the girding [of thy loins and faithfulness] that of thy thighs. (29)

May God make thy horns of iron and thy hoofs of brass; (30) and mayest thou gore the [iniquitous] like a steer [and trample nations] like mire in the streets. (31)

For God hath appointed thee to be the scourge of rulers. (32) They shall [come] before thee [and make obeisance unto thee, and all peoples] shall serve thee. By His holy Name may He give thee power that thou be as a lion [which raveneth and as a wolf which smi]teth the prey with none to retrieve it And may thy chargers ride abroad (33) over [all the broad places of the earth].

Notes (*)

The Manual of Discipline

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1. Jer. 3.17.

2. Cp. Num. 15.39; Ezek. 6.9.

3. Luke 16.8; John 12.36; Eph. 5.8. Cp. also Luke 1.79; Rom. 2.19.

4. So too among the Essenes: Josephus, War, II, viii, 3; Philo, quoted by Eusebius, Praep. Ev., viii, 11; Porphyry, On Abstention from Animal Food, p. 381 (ed. Leyden, 1620). Likewise among the early Christians: Lucian, De morte Peregrini, c.13.

5. Variant calculations of the calendar were a regular bone of contention among normative Jews and dissident sects, as also between Jews and Samaritans.

6. The word 'truth' is often used in the Scrolls in the specific sense of the Mosaic Law (Torah). So, too, the Samaritans commonly refer to it as 'the Verity' (Qushta).

7. Cp. Mishnah, Berachoth, V, 4.

8. Cp. Jubilees, 1.20; Testament of Reuben, ii; of Levi, iii; of Zebulun, ix; of Naphtali, ii; of Benjamin, vi. Cp. also Didache, xxi.3.

9. 'Amen' (or 'Amen, amen') was the standard response to an oath: Num. 5.22; Deut. 27, passim; Mishnah, Shebu'oth, V, 2.

10. Ps. 106.6. This is the regular formula of confession on the Day of Atonement.

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[*] The Dead Sea Scriptures are cited according to the columns and lines of the original texts. Old Testament references follow the numeration of the Hebrew text, which sometimes differs by a verse or two from the English version. Where the discrepancy is likely to be troublesome, the English numbering is indicated in parentheses.

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11. Cp. the development of this idea in Eph. 1.11; Rom. 8.17; Gal. 3.29, etc., and cp. G. Dalman, The Word's of Jesus (1902), pp. 125ff.

12. An expansion of the Priestly Benediction, Num. 6.22-27.

13. Cp. Mat. 18.9; Mark 9.43; Dalman, Words, p. 161.

14. The Hebrew is obscure, and various interpretations have been proposed.

15. By a scribal error, the word for 'every one that hath come' has been transferred in the original text to follow 'enter' rather than 'cursed be'.

16. Ezek. 7.19; 14.3, 7.

17. Deut. 29.19. The same passage is quoted in the same sense in the Syriac Teachings of the Apostles, ii, 23.

18. The Heb. term gillulim, commonly rendered 'idols', was understood by early Jewish commentators on the Bible to mean 'filthiness'. Our author evidently had the same tradition.

19. This was the regular order of precedence among Jews; cp. Mishnah, Horayoth, III, 8.

20. The Brotherhood regarded itself as part of the ideal, sempiternal congregation of God—the Church Invisible.

21. Cp. II Cor. 5.1.

22. This is one of the most puzzling phrases in the entire document, and the translation is therefore uncertain. The Hebrew says: 'in the se'on of wickedness is his plowing'. The word se'on occurs only in Isa. 9.4(5), where it means 'sandal, boot'—a meaning which does not fit here. The medieval Jewish commentators, however, tended to equate it with the like-sounding Aramaic seyan, 'mud', and it is in this sense, I suggest, that our author likewise understood it. Furthermore, the notion of 'plowing wickedness' was clearly influenced by the occurrence of a similar expression in Hos. 10.13.

23. Cp. Mat 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; John 1.33; Acts I.5, etc.

24. The Hebrew word is that rendered 'teachers' in Dan.
II.33, 35; 12.3, 10. The Formulary of Blessings bears the same heading. Both texts were probably designed as 'assists' for the teachers of the Brotherhood, this one being a kind of sermon—possibly delivered as an exposition of the Scriptural Lesson, Deut. 30.15ff.: 'See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil', etc.

25. Cp. I Sam. 2.3.

26. Cp. Didache; Testament of Levi, 5.30; Mat. 7.13f.; Barnabas, xiv.3ff. The same doctrine occurs in the pseudepigraphic Testament of Asher, 1.3-9, and in the Testament of Judah, 20.1. It developed into the Jewish concept of the yeser tob (good inclination) and yeser ra' (evil inclination) in every man. On the background of the concept, see A. Dupont-Sommer, The Jewish Sect of Qumran and the Essenes (1954), pp. 118-30. Cp. also Slavonic Enoch, 30.13f.

27. Mentioned again in the 'Zadokite' Document, v.18. Possibly, this is the real meaning of II Cor. 11.14, 'Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light', i.e., Satan disguises himself as the Angel of Light and then misleads.

28. In Testament of Levi, xix and in Testament of Joseph, vii, xx, Belial is called 'the spirit of darkness'.

29. The term used in the Hebrew (viz. mastemah) is related to the word 'Satan'. It is personified in Jubilees 11.5; 17.16; 18.9.

30. The angel in question is probably Gabriel, for not only is Gabriel the revealer of God's truth—he revealed the basic Koran to Mohammed—but he is also the champion of the faithful in the final battle against the powers of darkness; cp. War of the Sons of Light, etc.

31. Josephus (War, II, viii, 7) says that the Essenes were sworn not to divulge their doctrines to outsiders.

32. The text reads: 'These are the foundations of the spirit for the children of the truth of the world'. It is obvious that the scribe has erroneously altered the true order of the words; see above, n. 15.

33. Cp. I Peter 5.4. The Mandaeans attach great importance to the 'lustrous crown' (Kelila de-ziva).

34. Cp. Rev. 6.11; 7.9. 'All God's chillun got robes'.

35. Cp. the lists of vices in Gal. 5.19ff.; Rom. 1.29ff.; I Cor. 6.9ff.; Col. 3.5, 8. Rendel Harris (Teaching of the Apostles [1887], pp. 82ff.) derives these lists from the catalogue of sins recited in the confessions on the Day of Atonement Others claim that they were borrowed from the Stoics, and cite similar texts in A. Die-terich, Nekyia, pp. 163ff.

36. Cp. Jer. Talmud, Sheb., vi. 37a. Cp. also Slavonic Enoch, 53.3; 56.1.

37. Cp. Isa. 44.3; Joel 2.28-29; Acts 2.17; 10.45; Titus 3.5-6.

38. This idea was common in the Graeco-Roman world; see F. Cumont, After Life in Roman Paganism (1923), p. 121.

39. Cp. John 12.43.

40. Cp. Isa. 65.17, and especially Mat. 19.28. Cp. also Dalman, Words, pp. 177ff; Cumont, op. cit., p. 13.

41. See General Introduction, p. 5.

42. Evidently, non-Jewish proselytes are meant.

43. Josephus tells us (War, II, viii, 6) that the Essenes avoided taking oaths. The only exception was the oath of allegiance on being admitted to the Brotherhood. Jesus counselled his disciples in the same sense (Mat 5.33-37). It is interesting to observe that this rule obtained also among the Waldenses.

44. I.e., the curses prescribed in Deut. 28-29, known in Jewish tradition as 'the Commination' (Heb. tochechah). When the passage is read in the Synagogue, it is customary among the Ashkenazim (German-Polish Jews) to 'call to the Law' the humblest member of the congregation—usually, the beadle or sexton. The Sephardim (Spanish-Portuguese Jews), however, insist that the rabbi (haham) must be 'called', to show that the Law is no respecter of persons!

45. This is not a protest against baptism, as has been supposed, but rather against the idea that the act of immersion can by itself absolve sins.

46. The Scriptural text refers specifically to falsehood.

47. The Scriptural text was evidently taken to mean 'whose spirit lies only in his breath', i.e., not in his 'soul'.

48. Philo (Quod Omnis Probus Liber, §13) commends the Essenes for their 'cheerfulness of temper'. So, too, Josephus (War, II, viii, 6) says that 'they are just dispensers of their anger, curbers of their passions ... ministers of peace'.

49. The text says, 'the small is to obey the great'; but this evidently refers to rank, not age. However, Philo says of the Essenes that in synagogue the younger sat below the elder (Quod Omnis Probus Liber, §12).

50. So too among the Essenes: Philo, loc. cit.; Josephus, War, II, viii, 5.

51. Ten persons is the minimum required in Jewish law to form a congregation. So too, apparently, among the Essenes: Josephus, War, II, viii, 9.

52. So too among the Essenes: Josephus, War, II, viii, 5. In early Christian usage, the first act at an agape (love-feast) was to bless the cup. The duty devolved on the bishop, if present; see Dom Conolly, Didascalia Apostolorum (1929), pp. lii,ff.

53. I.e., in order to expound it to them; cp. I Cor. 14.28. The Didascalia Apostolorum prescribes that the bishop is to be the 'interpreter'.

54. For the conjunction of 'studying' and worshiping' (lit blessing'), cp. Mishnah, Yoma, VII, 7.

55. Josephus (War, II, viii, 5) says of the Essenes that 'no noise or uproar ever desecrates their house. Rather do they let everyone take part in the conversation in turn'.

56. Josephus (War, II, viii, 9) says of the Essenes that 'when ten of them [i.e., the minimal quorum] sit together, no one will speak if the other nine do not agree to it'.

57. The Hebrew word is the exact equivalent of the Greek episkopos, 'bishop'. We thus see the original form of this office, which later assumed sacerdotal functions. Comparable also is the 'steward' or 'overseer' of the Essenes, mentioned by Philo (hi Eusebius, Praep. Ev., viii, 11) and Josephus (War, II, viii, 3).

58. Josephus (War, II, viii, 10) mentions four categories among the Essenes, and tells us also (ib., 7), that a postulant was not admitted to 'the holier water of purification' until after a year's probation. The 'com-mon or general purity' (literally, 'the purity of the many') was evidently the lowest degree. The system was a special development of the four degrees of purity recognized in Jewish law and specified in the Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 18b.

59. So too among the Essenes, according to Josephus (loc cit.).

60. The Didascalia (54.26) likewise excludes Initiants from the common meal. So too among the Essenes (Josephus, loc. cit.).

61. Josephus (loc. cit.) says that those who wished to join the Essenes had to spend a trial year 'outside' and two full years (in varied degrees of probation) 'inside' before they were eligible for admission. There is no real discrepancy between his statement and our author's, for the latter starts, as it were, from the moment the postulant has entered 'within'.

62. Deut. 28.58. Cp. James 2.7.

63. For the terms employed in the Hebrew, cp. Mishnah, Yoma, VII, 7. For the office involved, cp. Mishnah, Berachoth, V, 5; Rosh Ha-Shanah, IV, 9.

64. The point is that the left hand is used in the Near East for all unclean purposes.

65. According to Josephus (War, II, viii, 8), expulsion was the penalty among the Essenes for heinous offenses.

66. In imitation of the priestly triumvirate of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar during Israel's sojourn in the wilderness; cp. Num. 3.4.

67. Cp. Isa. 65.9; Ps. 105.43; II John 1; I Peter 2.9; Rev. 17.14, etc. The Mandaeans likewise call themselves the elect' (Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien, pp. 75, 106f.; id., Johannesbuch, ii, pp. 69, 102, 221). So too the Manichaeans styled themselves (vicidagan).

68. Quoted in the same sense in I Peter 2.6.

69. Philo tells us (Quod Omnis Probus Liber, §12) that when the Scriptures were read publicly among the Essenes, on the sabbath, the 'expert' who expounded them 'passed over that which is not generally known, i.e., within the grasp of the rank and file.

70. The same quotation is used in the same sense by John the Baptist; Mat. 3.3; John 1.23.

71. Literally, 'the Messiahs (i.e., anointed) of Aaron and Israel'. See above, p. 6.

72. The expression derives from Deut. 32.35, according to the text found in the Samaritan Recension, the Greek (Septuagint) Version, and a fragment discovered at Qumran itself. It recurs at Isa. 34.8, 61.2, and 63.4, and is the standard term for Doomsday among the Samaritans.

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The 'Zadokite' Document

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1. Based on Ezek. 4.5, 'For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days'. It is perhaps worthy of note that in the 'Chain of High Priests' supplied by the Samaritans to Rev. John Mills and published by him in his The Modern Samaritans (1864), pp. 333f., 'the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar' is said to have lasted 390 years, viz. from 3488 until 3877 A.M. This must represent an independent tradition, for the Samaritans do not accept any Scripture other than the Five Books of Moses.

2. As Isaac Rabinowitz has pointed out (Journal of Biblical Literature, 73 [1954], 11), the reference is to the events narrated in Neh. l.lff., 'Now it came to pass in the twentieth year [of the reign of King Artaxerxes Longimanus]'. I should prefer, however, to see in the 'right-teacher' Ezra rather than Nehemiah. First, as explained in the Introduction, it seems to me that the 'right-teacher' was in all epochs necessarily a priest— and that Ezra was. Second, it was indeed Ezra who expounded the Law (Neh. 8.2ff.).

3. Here we have the term usually rendered Teacher of Righteousness'.

4. The reference is obscure. Possibly it is to Sanballat (Neh. 4.Iff.), though it is not recorded that he and his followers were annihilated. However, our text may be a general polemic against the Samaritans.

5. An ancient Jewish morning-prayer, ascribed by some to the Essenes, speaks of 'Knowledge and Discernment' as encompassing God like attendants.

6. Common figures of rabbinic lore; cf. also Enoch 56.1.

7. I.e., the anointed priests, custodians and teachers of the Law, which is here called 'the Truth', as regularly among the Samaritans and Mandaeans.

8. The reference is to the widespread post-Biblical legend of the rebel angels (headed by 'Lucifer') who were cast out of heaven. The legend is fully discussed in B. Bamberger's excellent work, Fallen Angels (New York, 1954). The name 'Watchers' is taken from Dan. 4.13, 17, 23.

9. The allusion is to Gen. 6.1—4. The Hebrew word usually rendered 'mighty men' was interpreted in antiquity as 'giants'.

10. The reference is to the generation of the Flood. Compare especially Gen. 6.17.

11. Gen. 9.20-28.

12. Note that the same example is cited, with the same point, in James 2.23.

13. Ps. 106. 18.

14. Cp. Jer. 2.13; 17.13; Odes of Solomon, 6.7; 30.1-2.

15. The point depends on a play on words: the Hebrew for 'associate oneself' is l-v-h, which at once suggests Levi.

16. I.e., the prototypes of the 'men of special holiness' mentioned in the Manual.

17. The Hebrew word for 'boundary' also means 'statute', and is used especially of the statutes, or provisions, of the Covenant.

18. The source of this quotation is unknown. It does not occur in the pseudepigraphical Testament of Levi, as one might expect.

19. RV. 'Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself.

20. Lev. 15.19.

21. Cp. II Tim. 3.8. For the legend in Jewish sources, cp. L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, vi, 144.

22. The Hebrew word for prince is sar. The point obviously depends upon some fanciful interpretation of this term, that now eludes us. Possibly it was connected on the one hand with the word shur, 'to look around for something', and on the other with a root appearing in the Assyro-Babylonian sharu, 'to belie, traduce'.

23. This passage has been taken to indicate that the Covenanters later betook themselves to Damascus, and it has been assumed that our present document emanates from that settlement. I agree entirely, however, with the view of I. Rabinowitz (Journal of Biblical Literature, 73 [1954], 11-35) that the language is purely figurative, being based on Amos 5.27. See above, p. 5.

24. See Manual, vols, iii-iv.

25. Josephus tells us clearly that not all of the Essenes lived in the desert (War, II, viii, 4), and the present document subsequently lays down rules for urban communities and for 'camps' respectively. Obviously, then, this literature did not emanate from, nor was it exclusive to, the particular group at Qumran.

26. Josephus tells us that while some Essenic groups discountenanced marriage, others did not (War, II, viii, 13). The Qumran group apparently fell in the latter category, for skeletons of women have been disinterred from its cemetery.

27. Comp. Zech. 6.8.

28. The text is defective, and it is therefore not quite clear how the author actually interpreted the Scriptural passage. C. Rabin makes the attractive suggestion that we should read: 'The King is the [prince of all the congregation; the image(s) are the instructors of the] congregation'. The point, he says, depends on a play on words, whereby the Hebrew selem, 'image' is fancifully interpreted (by metathesis) as melis, 'interpreter'. An alternative suggestion is, however, that the author was playing on the words of Deut. 33.4-5, 'Moses commanded us a law as an inheritance, O congregation of Jacob. And there was a King in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together'.

29. Possibly, the writer was fancifully interpreting the word Kiyyun (really the name of the planet Saturn) as containing the initial letters of the Hebrew expression, Kitbe Nebi'im, writings of the prophets'. An exactly parallel mode of interpretation appears in the Commentary on Habakkuk, xiii, 2 (on 2.20).

30. The writer is playing on the words of Ps. 73.20, Their image wilt Thou despise'.

31. See above, n. 23.

32. The pseudepigraphic Testaments of Levi (18.3) and Judah (24.1) likewise refer this to the Messiah. Rev. 22.16 refers it to Jesus.

33. The writer interprets the Hebrew word sheth of the Biblical quotation—really, the name of a nomadic people called the Shutu—as equivalent to se'eth, 'pride'. The same interpretation obtains among the Samaritans. Jeremiah (48.45) took the words somewhat similarly.

34. Ezek. 13.10.

35. The writer manipulates the Biblical text to suit his purpose and does not quote it accurately.

36. Cp. Jer. 45.1, 4-5: The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto Baruch, the son of Neriah ... 'that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted will I pluck up; the same is the whole land ... for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh'.

37. Cp. II Kings 5.26-27, where Elisha curses Gehazi for disobedience.

38. The reference is to the future (prophetic) teacher who will precede the eventual restoration of the priesthood and sovereignty; see above, p. 6.

39. See Manual, viii, 1-19.

40. This is not a 'New Testament' in the Christian sense. It refers simply to the future reaffirmation of the old covenant. See above, pp. 4ff.

41. Rabbinic tradition likewise assigns a period of forty years for the 'ministry' of the Messiah before the final restoration of Israel. The identity of the Man of Falsehood is unknown, and this is one of the major points of controversy among students of the Scrolls. I believe, however, that the reference is purely general, and refers to 'Belial' or 'Antichrist'—a regular figure of Jewish (and later of Christian) eschatology from about the second century B.C. onwards.

42. This idea recurs in the Book of Hymns, xvi, 10. Cp. also Odes of Solomon, 9.12.

43. Heb. 'the house of Peleg' (cf. Gen. 10.25)-a fanciful designation based on the fact that the Hebrew word p-l-g means 'divide'. The reference is to men who originally withdrew from the faithless rabble, but later weak-heartedly rejoined it.

44. See Manual, vi, 8-13.

45. The interpretation of these lines is much disputed, and the translation here given must be considered only as tentative. For another view, see C. Rabin, The Zadokite Documents (1954), p. 54, n. 8.

46. Not in the Bible.

47. Cf. Mishnah, Makkoth, 1.7.

48. This may also mean: no man who has not yet reached the age when he is eligible for enrollment in the Brotherhood, i.e., no one under twenty; cp. xv, 6.

49. Cf. Mishnah, Sanhedrin, 1.3, which implies a court of ten.

50. Heb. 'Book of Hagu', which has been the subject of considerable speculation. The fact is, however, that the word hagu actually occurs in the Hymns (xi, 2, 21) in the sense of 'meditation', and the cognate word denotes 'study' in late Hebrew. There is thus no difficulty about the term.

51. The meaning is uncertain. The Hebrew word is mar'il, which is probably the Talmudic mir'al, 'pannier'.

52. I.e., the emphasis is on the word 'day', which was reckoned from sunset to sunset. The moment indicated would thus imply the imminence of the sabbath day, Friday's sun being now about to set.

53. For the regular Jewish rule (2000 cubits), see Mishnah, Sotah, V.3.

54. The text seems to say: 'If a human being falls into a place of water or into a place of ... let no man bring him up by a ladder or a rope or by any other implement'. But this would be against the universal Jewish rule that sabbath laws may be broken in cases of life and death. Hence some scholars have assumed that a word has dropped out by haplography and read: 'If a human being fall ... whence he cannot come up, one is to bring him up by means of a ladder', etc. But this involves bad grammar. I therefore adopt Vermes' ingenious emendation of esh ('fire') for the obscure al of the manuscript.

55. The Scripture says, 'apart from your Sabbath offering'; but our author took the word rendered 'apart from' as an adverb meaning 'exclusively'.

56. I.e., accepted Judaism. Cp. Bab. Talmud, Yebamot, 48b. The expression is a trifle odd, because it refers properly to circumcision.

57. Ritual slaughtering of fish is discussed in Bab. Talmud, Hullin, 27b.

58. I.e., in order to avoid the curses specified in Deut. 9 28-29.

59. See Introduction, pp. 6, 29.

60. See Manual of Discipline, note 51.

61. Num. 27.21. The Didache likewise provides for a junior substitute, if the bishop is incapacitated or incompetent.

62. Lev. 13.2ff. Cp. Mishnah, Nega'im, III, 1.

63. Cp. Manual of Discipline, note 57.

64. So too in the Apostolic Constitutions, ii, 6, 7, in de- fining the duties of a bishop ('pastor').

65. Literally, 'In all communion with men and in every language according to their several families'. This scarcely means that he is to be a polyglot, but simply —as we should say—that he is to be adept at 'talking the other fellow's language'.

66. Swearing by AD ... and by YH (the initial letters of YHVH, the Ineffable Name of God) is mentioned in Mishnah, Shebu'oth, IV, 13.

66a. Blasphemy was punishable by death: Lev. 24.10-23. Cp. Mishnah, Sanhedrin, VII, 5.

67. The quotation is not from the Bible.

68. I.e., the Book of Jubilees.

69. Heb. Mastemah, mentioned again in Jubilees 11.5; 17.16; 18.9. Cp. Manual of Discipline, note 29.

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The Letter of the Law: Ordinances

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1. I.e., of the community of Israel.

2. Literally, 'who is in Israel'.

3. Cp. Exod. 22.2.

4. Literally, 'He may eat of the field with his mouth'.

5. The law in Deut. 24.25-26 permits access only to the standing, but not to the threshed, corn.

6. Literally, 'as ransom (kopher) for his person'. On the varied meanings of the Hebrew term, see S. R. Driver's careful note in ICC, Deuteronomy (1895), pp. 425f.

7. Allegro restores the defective text to read, 'only once shall he give it during his lifetime', i.e., in contrast to the annual assessment in postexilic times. But it is difficult to see how the Temple could be maintained as a going concern on such a basis. Obviously, what is meant is that the value of the due is to remain constant, and not fluctuate (e.g., in accordance with the man's income; cp. Exod. 30.15), or even that, once he has paid it, no one is to be 'dunned' for more by way of supplementary or indirect taxation. (State and Federal legislators please note!)

8. Literally, 'according to the sacred shekel', see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (repr. 1965), p. 203.

9. Cp. Exod. 12.37; Num. 11.21.

10. A talent consisted of 60 minas; a mina, of 50 shekels.

11. Literally, simply 'the Third'. Allegro points out that David divided the people into three companies for military purposes; cp. II Sam. 18.2; 23.18-19. This seems, indeed, to have been a regular military tactic; cp. Judges 7.16; 9.43; I Sam. 11.11; 13.17.

12. The computation implies a force of 3000 men. It is therefore pertinent to observe that in various offensives Saul recruited just this number; cp. I Sam. 13.2; 24.3 (2); 26.2. Three thousand, however, was also simply a round number; cp. Judges 15.11; I Kings 5.12; I Chron. 29.4; II Chron. 25.13; 29.33; 35.7. So was 300,000; cp. I Sam. 11.8; II Sam. 17.14; II Chron. 25.5; 26.13. And so too was 300; cp. Judges 11.26; 15.4; II Sam. 21.16; II Kings 18.14; Esther 9.15, etc. (Similarly in classical literature; e.g., Catullus, ix, 2; xii, 10; Horace, Sat., I, v, 10; Tibullus, I, iv, 69; Martial, xii, 1xx; and in ritual contexts, Vergil, Aeneid, iv, 510; vii, 273, etc.)

13. Likewise a military contingent; cp. Exod. 18.21, 25; Deut 1.15; I Sam. 8.12; War, iv, 3, 4; 'Zadokite' Document, xiii, 1.

14. Cp. Ezek. 45.11.

15. The reading of this line is doubtful, and the text is defective.

16. In Manual, viii, Iff. the judicial council consists of 12 laymen and 3 priests; in 'Zadokite' Document, x, 4ff., of 6 laymen and 4 priests.

17. Literally, 'who has acted high-handedly'; cp. Num. 15.30; Manual, v, 12; viii, 17, 22; ix, 1; 'Zadokite' Document, viii, 8; x, 3; xix, 21.

18. The Biblical commandment was probably directed in the first instance against cultic transvestism, for the word rendered 'abomination' usually refers to the ritual practises of the heathen; see T. H. Gaster, Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament (1969), §102.

19. Literally, 'brings a bad name upon ...'

20. I have assumed a scribal error in the text, for otherwise it is in flat contradiction to the law of Deut. 22.19. It is possible, however, that the Brotherhood modified the ancient legislation on the compassionate assumption that an innocent woman thus slandered would find life intolerable with the man who had defamed her.

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A Formulary of Blessings

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1. Based on Deut. 28.12. The same passage is quoted in connection with the Priestly Benediction in Sifre, §43.

2. Cp. Sifre, §41.

3. Based on Ps. 36.9, 'For with Thee is the Wellspring of life; in Thy light do we see light'. The passage naturally came to mind in connection with the Priestly Benediction's 'May He cause His face to shine upon (literally, give light to) thee'. Cp. also Jer. 2.13; 17.13.

4. Cp. Manual of Discipline, col. iii.

5. Cp. the Palestinian Targum's paraphrase of Num. 6.24: 'The Lord ... keep thee from liliths and things that cause terror and from demons of noonday (cp. Ps. 91.5-6) and of morning, and from malign spirits and phantoms' (tr. Etheridge). Similarly, Sifre, §40.

6. Based on Deut. 7.12, the passage being suggested by the expression 'and keep thee' in the Priestly Benediction. Similarly, Sifre, §40.

7. Suggested by the expression, 'and give thee peace'. Cp. Sifre, §42: 'Rabbi Eleazar ha-Kappar (2nd cent.) saith, Great is peace, for every blessing is sealed with it, as it is said, The Lord bless thee ... and grant thee peace'.

8. Based on I Sam. 2.9, 'He keepeth the feet of His devoted servants'. Similarly, Sifre, §40.

9. Cp. Deut. 28.8.

10. Cp. Lev. 26.31. This shows clearly that the passage is addressed to a priest.

11. I.e., the sacred offerings of the priests.

12. Cp. Neh. 10.34.

13. A reference to the crown of the high priest; cp. Ex. 29.6; Lev. 8.9.

14. Perhaps suggested by reference to the crown.

15. Cp. Hymns, iii, 20; xi, 12; xviii, 28-29. This suggests at once a play on the words 'lift up'.

16. A play on the fact that the high priest officiates on earth in the midst of 'holy ones', i.e., the other priests.

17. The allusion to leading troops into battle suggests yet another play on the expression 'lift up', viz. lift up a banner; cp. Isa. 5.26; 11.12; 18.3; Jer. 4.6; 50.2, etc.

18. The restoration is based on the assumption that there is once again a play on the expression 'lift up'—this time in the sense of lift up a sword; cp. Isa. 2.4; Mic. 4.3. Cp. also Deut. 9.3; Ps. 81.15; I Chron. 17.10.

19. Or, 'thy peace'.

20. Cp. Ezek. 16.14.

21. Service in the earthly sanctuary is to be but a prelude to similar office in the heavenly sanctuary. The latter, in which the angel Michael officiates as high priest, is mentioned in Talmud, Hagigah, 12b.

22. A reference to the fact that the priest received the first- fruits or the prime part of certain offerings; cp. Num. 18.12; Deut 18.4; Ezek. 44.30.

23. A reference to the priestly 'portion' of offerings; cp. Lev. 7.33; II Chron. 31.4. I

24. A reference to the priestly diadem; cp. Ezek. 29.6; 39.30; Lev. 8.9.

24a. Hebrew, nasi'. The title probably denotes the eth-narch, the civic chief of the Jewish community. Concerning this office, see: I Mace. 14.47; 15.1-2; Josephus, Ant., xii, 6, §7; xiv, 8, §5; 10, §2; Y. Yadin, Megillath Milhamath Bene Or bi-Bene Hoshech (1956), p. 285. In the 'Zadokite' Document, v, 1, the law of Deut. 17.15, which refers to the king, is said to refer to the nasi', and ib., vii. 20, the 'rod' which, according to Balaam's prophecy (Num. 24.17), will someday 'rise out of Israel', is interpreted as the future 'nasi' of the entire community'. In normative Judaism of the intertestamental period, the nasi' was paired with the 'father of the court' (ab beth din) as joint president of the Sanhedrin. The title itself derives from the Bible (Ex. 16.22; Lev. 4.22; Jos. 9.15, 18; 17.4, etc.), where, however, it denotes simply any one of the tribal chieftains of Israel.

25. Cp. Isa. 11.4.

26. Cp. Isa. 30.13.

27. Cp. Isa. 11.4.

28. Cp. Isa. 11.2.

29. Cp. Isa. 11.5.

30. Cp. Mic. 4.13.

31. Cp. Mic. 7.10; Zech. 9.3; 10.5; Ps. 18.43, etc.

32. Cp. Isa. 14.5.

33. The word rendered 'chargers' is used in The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness to denote 'light-armed troops' (the Roman velites). The suggestion is, therefore: 'May thy troops spread far and wide'.

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