Community Rule

The discipline of the Council of the Community — the order of the assembly, the commendation and rebuke of the brethren, and the rule of the holy meal.

1These are the ordinances by which they shall conduct themselves in the Council of the Community, even all that have offered themselves freely to turn from every evil, and to hold fast unto all that He hath commanded according to His will.

2They shall be separated from the congregation of the men of falsehood, and shall come together to the law and to the wealth, being in submission to the sons of Zadok the priests, the keepers of the covenant, and to the multitude of the men of the Community that hold fast to the covenant.

3By their hand shall be the decision of every matter — both of law, and of wealth, and of judgment — that they may do truth and humility together, and righteousness and justice and loving mercy and walking humbly in all their ways.

4No man shall walk in the stubbornness of his heart, going astray after his heart and after his eyes and after the imagination of his guilty inclination. Rather, in the Community, they shall circumcise the foreskin of their inclination — even of their stiff neck — that they may lay a foundation of truth for Israel, even for the Community of the everlasting covenant.

5They shall make atonement for all that have offered themselves for holiness in Aaron, and for the house of truth in Israel; and for them that join them in the Community; and for the controversy and the judgment to condemn all that transgress the precept.

6When these things come to pass in Israel, the Council of the Community shall be established in truth — as an everlasting plantation, a holy house for Israel, a holy of holies for Aaron, the witnesses of truth at the judgment, and them that are chosen of the goodwill, that they may make atonement for the land, and recompense the wicked their reward.

7It shall be the tested wall — even the precious cornerstone, whose foundations shall not tremble, neither shall they flee from their place. It shall be a most holy dwelling for Aaron, with everlasting knowledge of the covenant of justice, that they may render an offering of a sweet savour. And it shall be a house of perfection and truth in Israel, that they may establish a covenant according to the everlasting precepts.

8And they shall be acceptable, that they may make atonement for the land; and shall determine the judgment of wickedness; and there shall be no more falsehood. When these are confirmed in the foundations of the Community for two years, in perfect conduct, they shall be set apart as holy in the midst of the Council of the men of the Community.