Community Rule

The purpose of the Community — to seek God with a whole heart, to walk in the way of His commandments, and to enter the covenant of grace.

1For the Master, that he may instruct the holy ones to live according to the rule of the Community: to seek God with a whole heart and soul, and to do what is good and right before Him.

2Even as He hath commanded by the hand of Moses, and by the hand of all His servants the prophets — to love everything which He hath chosen, and to hate everything which He hath rejected; to keep far from every evil, and to cleave to every good work.

3To do truth and righteousness and justice upon earth; to walk no more in the stubbornness of a guilty heart, neither in lustful eyes — committing every kind of evil; but to bring all them that have offered themselves freely to do God's commandments into a covenant of grace.

4That they may be united in the counsel of God, and may walk perfectly before Him in keeping with all that hath been revealed concerning their appointed times — that they may love all the children of light, each according to his lot in the design of God; and may hate all the children of darkness, each according to his guilt in the vengeance of God.

5And all them that offer themselves for His truth shall bring all their knowledge, and their strength, and their wealth into the Community of God — that they may purify their knowledge in the truth of God's precepts; and may dispose their strength according to His perfect ways; and may dispose all their wealth according to His just counsel.

6They shall not depart from any commandment of God concerning their appointed times. They shall not advance their seasons; nor shall they retard any of their feasts. They shall not turn aside from His true precepts, going either to the right or to the left.

7All them that enter the rule of the Community shall enter into the covenant before God — to do all that He hath commanded, and not to turn back from following Him for any fear, or terror, or trial, that may befall them in the dominion of Belial.

The blessing of the priests upon the men of God's lot, and the curse upon the men of Belial's lot, by which the covenant is yearly renewed.

1When they enter into the covenant, the priests and the Levites shall bless the God of salvation, and all His works of truth. And all them that enter the covenant shall say after them: Amen, amen.

2Then the priests shall recite the favours of God manifested in His mighty deeds, and shall declare all His merciful grace toward Israel; and the Levites shall recite the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their guilty rebellions and sins during the dominion of Belial.

3And all them that enter the covenant shall confess after them, saying: We have committed iniquity; we have transgressed; we have sinned; we have done wickedly — both we and our fathers before us — by walking contrary to the laws of truth. Yet just is God; He hath fulfilled His judgment upon us, and upon our fathers.

4But unto us hath He shown the mercies of His grace from of old; and He shall show them unto us for ever and ever.

5And the priests shall bless all the men of the lot of God, who walk perfectly in all His ways, saying: May He bless thee with every good. May He preserve thee from every evil. May He enlighten thy heart with insight of life; may He grace thee with everlasting knowledge. May He lift up His merciful countenance upon thee for everlasting peace.

6And the Levites shall curse all the men of the lot of Belial, saying: Cursed art thou for all thy guilty wicked works. May God deliver thee unto terror through the hand of all the avengers of vengeance. May He visit thy posterity with destruction at the hand of all that recompense thy deeds.

7Cursed art thou — without mercy. According to the darkness of thy works thou shalt be cursed in the everlasting blackness. May God not be merciful unto thee, when thou callest upon Him; nor pardon thee, by atoning for thy iniquities. May He lift up the angry countenance of His vengeance toward thee. May there be no peace for thee at the mouth of all that hold fast unto the fathers.

8And all them that enter the covenant shall say after the priests and Levites: Amen, amen.

9Thus shall they do, year by year, all the days of the dominion of Belial — that the covenant be confirmed unto them; and the chastening unto the rebellious; that no man enter the holy water and afterward defile it; nor enter the holy meal and afterward defile it; nor recite the holy name and afterward profane it; for he that doeth these shall not be reckoned among the perfect.

The doctrine of the two spirits — the Spirit of light and the spirit of darkness — by which all flesh is governed until the season of God's visitation.

1The Master shall instruct all the children of light, and shall teach them the nature of all the children of men, even concerning all the kinds of their spirits, with the signs of their works in their generations, and concerning the visitation of their afflictions, and the seasons of their reward.

2From the God of knowledge cometh all that is, and that shall be. Before they were, He established their entire design; and when they come into being for the appointed task — even according to the glorious design — they fulfil their work.

3He hath created man to govern the world; and hath appointed for him two spirits, that he may walk by them until the season of His visitation. They are the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

4From a fountain of light come the generations of truth; and from a source of darkness come the generations of falsehood. In the hand of the Prince of light is dominion over all the sons of righteousness; they walk in the ways of light. And in the hand of the Angel of darkness is dominion over all the sons of falsehood; they walk in the ways of darkness.

5From the Angel of darkness come the straying of all the sons of righteousness; and all their sin, and their iniquities, and their guilt, and the works of their transgression are by his dominion — even according to the mysteries of God, until His season. And all their afflictions, and the seasons of their distress, are wrought by his dominion of malevolence.

6All the spirits of his lot shall cause the sons of light to stumble. But the God of Israel, and the Angel of His truth, shall help all the sons of light. He hath created the spirits of light and of darkness; and upon them He hath founded every work, and upon their ways every service. The one God hath loved for all the ages of eternity; and in all his deeds He taketh pleasure for ever. Of the other He abhorreth the counsel; and all his ways He hateth eternally.

7These are the ways of the spirit of truth in the world: to enlighten the heart of man; to make straight before him every way of true righteousness; to fill his heart with the awe of God's judgments; with a spirit of humility, and patience, and abundant mercy, and eternal goodness, and understanding, and intelligence, and powerful wisdom; that trusteth in all the works of God; that leaneth upon the multitude of His mercies; with a spirit of holiness in the perfection of the holy ones.

8And these are the ways of the spirit of falsehood in the world: greediness; slackness in the service of righteousness; wickedness; falsehood; pride; haughtiness; deceit; cruelty; abundant evil; impatience; folly; insolence; abominable deeds wrought in lust; the way of defilement in the service of impurity; foulness of tongue; blindness of eye; deafness of ear; stiffness of neck; heaviness of heart; walking in the ways of darkness.

9And the visitation of all that walk after this spirit shall be in afflictions wrought by all the angels of destruction. And it shall be in everlasting damnation, by the everlasting wrath of the God of vengeance. They shall have eternal terror, and reproach without end, with the disgrace of being consumed in the fire of the dark regions.

10But all the visitation of them which walk in the spirit of truth shall be unto healing, and an abundance of peace in long days, and unto fruitfulness of seed, with all eternal blessings, and everlasting joy in life eternal, and a crown of glory, with a garment of majesty in the everlasting Light.

11Until now the spirits of truth and falsehood do struggle in the heart of man. But God in His wisdom, and in the mysteries of His knowledge, hath set unto them an end. And in the season of His visitation, He shall destroy falsehood for ever; and the truth shall be revealed unto the world for ever.

12Then shall God refine, in His truth, all the deeds of man. He shall purify for Himself the frame of man — by tearing out all the spirit of falsehood from the bond of his flesh. He shall cleanse him from every wicked deed by the spirit of holiness. Like purifying water He shall sprinkle upon him the spirit of truth, even the cleansing from every abomination, and from every wallowing in falsehood.

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.