The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language
And this is the Rule for the men of the Community, who volunteer to turn from all evil and to hold fast to all that he commanded according to his will, to separate from the congregation
of the men of injustice, to be a Community in law and in property, answering according to the word of the sons of Zadok, the priests who keep the covenant, and according to the word of the majority of the men
of the Community, those who hold fast to the covenant. [...] According to their word shall the outcome of the lot go forth for every matter, for the law, and for property, and for judgment, to do truth together, and humility,
righteousness and justice and love of kindness and walking humbly in all their ways, so that no man shall walk in the stubbornness of his heart, going astray after his own heart
and his eyes and the thought of his inclination. [...] but only to circumcise in the Community the foreskin of the inclination and a stiff neck, to lay a foundation of truth for Israel, for a Community of an eternal covenant
to atone for all who volunteer for holiness in Aaron and for the house of truth in Israel, and those who join them for the Community, and for dispute and for judgment,
to condemn all who transgress the law. [...] And these are the appointed ways for them concerning all these statutes when they are gathered into the Community. [...] Everyone who enters the council of the Community
shall enter the covenant of God in the sight of all who volunteer. [...] And he shall take upon himself a binding oath to return to the law of Moses, according to all that he commanded, with all
his heart and with all his soul, according to all that has been revealed of it to the sons of Zadok, the priests who keep the covenant and seek his will, and to the majority of the men of their covenant
who volunteer together for his truth and to walk in his will. [...] And whoever undertakes by covenant upon himself to separate from all the men of injustice who walk
in the way of wickedness. [...] for they are not reckoned in his covenant, for they have not sought nor inquired of him through his statutes, to know the hidden things in which they have strayed
through them to their own guilt. [...] and the revealed things they have done with a high hand, bringing forth anger to judgment and to take vengeance with the curses of the covenant, to execute upon them [judgments]
great, for eternal destruction with no remnant. [...] He shall not enter the water to touch the purity of the men of holiness. [...] for they shall not be purified
unless they turn from their wickedness, for he is unclean among all who transgress his word. [...] And he shall not be joined with him in his labor or in his property, lest he bring upon him
the iniquity of guilt. [...] for he shall keep far from him in every matter, for so it is written, 'From every false thing you shall keep far.' [...] And no man of the men of
the Community shall answer to their word concerning any law or judgment. [...] And he shall not eat anything of their property at all, nor drink, nor take anything at all from their hand
except for a price, as it is written, 'Cease for yourselves from man, in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?' [...] For
all who are not reckoned in his covenant are to be separated, both them and all that is theirs. [...] And the man of holiness shall not rely upon any works
of vanity, for vanity is all that do not know his covenant. [...] And all who despise his word he will destroy from the world, and all their deeds are as impurity
before him, and unclean is all their property. [...] And when he enters the covenant to act according to all these statutes, to be joined to the holy congregation, they shall inquire
into their spirit together, between a man and his fellow, according to his understanding and his deeds in the law, according to the word of the sons of Aaron who volunteer in the Community, to establish
his covenant and to keep watch over all his statutes which he commanded to do, and according to the word of the majority of Israel, those who volunteer to return in the Community to his covenant. [...]
And they shall be recorded in the Rule, one before his fellow, according to his understanding and his deeds, so that every man obeys his fellow, the lesser the greater. [...] And there shall be
an examination of their spirit and their deeds year by year, to advance each man according to his understanding and the perfection of his way, or to set him back according to his perversity. [...] to reprove
one another in [truth] and humility and loving-kindness toward one another. [...] Let no one speak to him in anger or with complaint
or with a [stiff] neck, [or] [with] [a jealous] wicked spirit. [...] And let him not hate him [in] [the foreskin] of his heart. [...] but he shall reprove him that very day, and not