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The Damascus Document — Column 20

The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language

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From the day of the Teacher of the Community until the rising of a messiah from Aaron and from Israel [...] and so is the judgment

for all who enter the congregation of the men of perfect holiness [...] and he shall be loathed for not doing the precepts of the upright

He is the man who is smelted in the midst of the furnace [...] when his deeds are revealed he shall be sent away from the congregation

like one whose lot did not fall among the taught of God [...] according to his unfaithfulness the men of

knowledge shall rebuke him, until the day he returns to take his place among the men of complete holiness, who have no

his lot in the midst of [...] and when his deeds are revealed, according to the exposition of the Law by which

the men of perfect holiness walk, no man shall associate with him in property or in labor

for all the holy ones belonging to the Most High have pronounced a curse upon him [...] and according to this judgment for all who reject the former ones

and the latter ones, who have set idols upon their hearts and walk in the stubbornness

of their heart — they have no portion in the House of the Law [...] according to the judgment of their fellows who turned back

with the men of mockery they shall be judged, for they spoke error against the laws of righteousness and rejected

the covenant and the pledge which they established in the land of Damascus, and it is the new covenant [...]

and they shall not have, neither they nor their families, a share within the Law-house [...] and starting from the day

of the gathering in of the Teacher of the Community until the completion of all the men of war who turned back

with the Man of the Lie, about forty years [...] and in that time shall burn

the anger of God against Israel, as he said: there is no king, and there is no prince, and there is no judge, and [there is none]

who reproves in righteousness [...] and those who repented of the transgression of Jacob kept the covenant of God [...] then a man shall speak

to his fellow, to justify each man his brother, to hold firm their footsteps along God's path [...] and shall pay heed

God to their words, and he shall hear, and a book of remembrance shall be written [before] [him] for those who fear God and for those who esteem

his name, until salvation and righteousness are revealed, and those who fear God [...] and you shall return and you shall see the difference between the righteous

and the wicked, between the servant of God and him who has not served him [...] and he shows mercy [to] [thousands] to those who love him

and to those who keep him, for a thousand generations [...] the House of Peleg, who went out from the holy city

and relied upon God in the time of Israel's unfaithfulness, and they defiled the sanctuary [...] and turned back again

to the way of the people in [a few] matters [...] [all of them], each man according to his own spirit, shall be judged in the council of

holiness [...] and all who broke through the boundary of the Law among those who entered the covenant, when

the glory of God is revealed to Israel, shall be cut off from the midst of the camp, and with them all who condemn

Judah in the days of its testing [...] and all who hold fast to these judgments, to [go out]

and to enter in keeping with the Law, and shall listen to the voice of a teacher and confess before God: we have sinned

we have done wickedly, both we and our fathers, in walking contrary to the laws of the covenant; [righteous]

and true are your judgments against us [...] and they shall not raise a hand against his holy laws and [judgments]

of his righteousness and his true testimonies [...] and they were disciplined by the former judgments by which

the men of the Community were judged, and they gave heed to what the Teacher of Righteousness proclaimed [...] and they shall not abandon

the laws of righteousness; when they hear them, they shall rejoice and be glad and their heart shall be strong [...] and they shall prevail

over all the sons of the world [...] and God shall atone for them, and they shall see his salvation, for they sought refuge in his holy name [...]

An original translation made in 2026 by Scriptorium Press, working directly from the original language text (never from another English translation), in one consistent modern voice. Free to read, download, and listen — no accounts, no ads, nothing for sale.

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