dssdead-sea-scrolls
C — Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers
Part 15
Thirty-six damaged fragments preserve a purificatory liturgy in which the covenant community petitions Jehovah to cleanse them according to His own precepts of holiness — on the first, third, and seventh days — by the truth of His covenant. The candidate enters the water and speaks a blessing that grounds purity not in the act of immersion alone but in the word that proceeds from Jehovah's mouth. That word-sourced purity marks a dividing line: those within the covenant may be cleansed; those who remain in willful uncleanness stand outside the reach of the purifying water entirely.
1
Thirty-six badly damaged fragments, written on the verso of 4Q415, represent a purificatory ritual and prayers. The script dates to the turn of the era. Some lines are parallel to 4Q512, frs. 42-44 ii, 2—5. For the editio princeps, see E. Eshel, DJD, XXXV, 135-54. Fr. ii 3-4.. and thou shalt purify us according to Thy precepts of holiness for the first, the third and the seventh.. by the truth of Thy covenant.. to be purified from the impurity of.. And then he shall enter the water.. Answering, he shall say, 'Blessed art Thou, God of Israel for from the utterance of Thy mouth is declared the purity of all: to be separated from all the guilty men of uncleanness who cannot be purified by the purifying water..
