The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English

by Geza Vermes

  Fr. 4

  I ... [and he shall be punished for t]en d[a]ys ... [and he shall be punished] thirty days ... [and he shall be punished during that time with the half of his food for fifte[en days] ... and he shall be punished for three months wi[th half of his food. The man who speaks before] his fellow inscribed before him, shall be excluded from purity for six months [and he shall be punished with half of his food.] vacat And the man who insu[Its his fellow... shall be punished] for thirty days. vacat And the man who know[ingly] deceives [shall be separated for six] months (IQS VII, 3-4) and shall be punished during that time with half of his food. [And the man who lies] knowingly in any matter shall be punished for thirty days vacat [And the man who lies concerning property] know[ingly], they shall exclude him for six months. [And the man who lies down] II ... [and falls asle]ep during a session of the Congregation shall be punished for thirt[y days. And if... to read from] the book, he falls asleep up to three times and if [he goes out, he shall be punished for ten days.] And the man who comes to j[oi]n the Council of the [Commu]nity [the Guardian of] the Congregation [shall examine him]. If it falls to him he shall instruct him for [one] year. [And after he shall stand] before the Congregation and they shall deliberate [over h]im (cf. 1QS VI, 15). If he is not found [fit for the discipline (cf. 1QS VI, 14), he shall depart (1QS VI, 16). If he is to enter,] the Guardian shall [teach him the interpretation] of the Law. He shall not [touch the pure Meal of the Congregation until] another full year (1QS VI, 16-17). [And on completing] his year (1QS VI, 18) [they shall hand over his property to] the Guardian of the Congregation ... [Wh]en he comes ...

  Fr. 6

  ... on Sabbath day let no [man wear] soiled [garment]s (CD XI, 3). No man shall be dr[ess]ed in garments on which there is dust or ... on the Sabbath day. No [ma]n shall ta[ke] out of his tent a vessel and foo[d] on the Sabbath day. No man shall lift an animal which has fallen into water on the Sabbath day (CD xi, 13-14). But if a man falls into water on the Sabbath [day], he shall pass to him his garment to lift him out, but he shall not carry an instrument [to lift him out on] the Sabbath [day] (cf. CD XI, 16-17). And if the army... II ... [on] the Sabbath [day]. And let no ... Let [n]o man of the seed of Aaron sprinkle [purifying] w[aters (cf. 1QS III, 9; IV, 21) on the Sabbath day.] ... And with a beast he shall walk two thousand cubits [on the Sabbath day (CD xi, 5-6). Every beast with a defect in it shall be kept at a distance of(?)] thirty stadia [from the city of the Sanc]tuary (cf. IIQTemple LII, 17-18) ... When there shall be in the Council of the Community fift[een men, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the Law (1QS VIII, I) and the Pr]ophets, the Council of the Community shall be established [in truth (1QS VIII, 5). They shall be witnesses to the truth at the judgement and elect] of Goodwill. They shall be an agreeable offering atoning on behalf of the Land (cf. 1QS VIII, 6, 9) for a[ll iniquity ... He shall terminate the ages of injustice (cf. 1QS IV, 18) ...

  Fr. 7

  ... on the day of s[abbath ... on the da]y of sabbath... [N]o man from the seed of Aaron shall sprinkle wa[ter of purification ... They shall not bathe or wa]sh (their garments) [on] the great day and fast, on the day of [Atonement. He who goes outside his town to graze the] animals may go (to a distance of) two thousand cubits. [No man shall eat a blemished animal] within thirty stadia [from the sanctu]ary (cf. 1 1QT v, 16-18).... When there shall be in the Council of the Community fift[een men as God had said through His servants, the pr]ophets, the Council of the Community shall be established [in truth as an everlasting plantation, witnesses of truth and elect] of Goodwill, sweet fragrance to atone for the land... the ages of injustice will end by the judgement and the ... (cf. 1QS VIII, 1-10).

  vacat In the first week [Adam was created... until] he was not brought to the garden of Eden and a bone [from his bones was taken to become the woman] .... but she (Eve) had [no name (?)] until she was not brought to him (Adam) ... For holy is a garden of Eden, and every fresh shoot that is in it is holy [as it is written, If a woman conceives and bears a male child,] then she shall be unclean for seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean (Lev. xii, 2). Then [she shall continue for] thi[rty-three days in the blood] of her purifying (Lev. xii, 4). But if she bears a female child, [then she shall be unclean two weeks as in her menstruation. And she shall contin]ue in the blood of her purifying [for sixty-six days (Lev. xii, 5). She shall not touch ] any hallowed things, nor come into the Sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed](Lev. xii, 4).

  The Messianic Rule

  (1QSa=1Q28a)

  The Messianic Rule was published in 1955 by D. Barthélemy in DJD,I (Oxford, 1955, pp. 107-18). Originally included in the same Scroll as the Community Rule, this short but complete work presents the translator with great difficulties owing to its bad state of preservation and to the carelessness of the scribe.

  Barthélemy named the work ‘The Rule of the Congregation’, but I have given it a new title for the following reasons: (1) it was intended for ‘all the congregation in the last days’; (2) it is a Rule for a Community adapted to the requirements of the messianic war against the nations; (3) it refers to the presence of the Priest and the Messiah of Israel at the Council, and at the Meal described in column II.

  As in the Cave I version of the Community Rule and in the Damascus Document, but contrary to the version preserved in 4QSd (=4Q258) and 4QSb (=4Q256), ‘the sons of Zadok, the Priests’ form the chief authority in the sect.

  In the main, the precepts and the doctrinal concepts of the Messianic Rule foreshadow those of the War Rule. A mid-first-century BCE date may safely be proposed. Hundreds of tiny papyrus fragments of this text written in a cryptic script have been found in Cave 4. However, the pieces are so small that they cannot independently contribute to the textual criticism of 1QSa. See S. J. Pfann, 4Q249a-h, DJD, XXXVI, 515-74.

  I This is the Rule for all the congregation of Israel in the last days, when they shall join [the Community to wa]lk according to the law of the sons of Zadok the Priests and of the men of their Covenant who have turned aside [from the] way of the people, the men of His Council who keep His Covenant in the midst of iniquity, offering expiation [for the Land]

  When they come, they shall summon them all, the little children and the women also, and they shall read into their [ears a]ll the precepts of the Covenant and shall expound to them all their statutes that they may no longer stray in their [errors].

  And this is the Rule for all the hosts of the congregation, for every man born in Israel

  From [his] youth they shall instruct him in the Book of Meditation and shall teach him, according to his age, the precepts of the Covenant. He [shall be edu]cated in their statutes for ten years...

  At the age of twenty years [he shall be] enrolled, that he may enter upon his allotted duties in the midst of his family (and) be joined to the holy congregation. He shall not [approach] a woman to know her by lying with her before he is fully twenty years old, when he shall know [good] and evil. And thereafter, he shall be accepted when he calls to witness the judgements of the Law, and shall be (allowed) to assist at the hearing of judgements.

  At the age of twenty-five years he may take his place among the foundations (i.e. the officials) of the holy congregation to work in the service of the congregation.

  At the age of thirty years he may approach to participate in lawsuits and judgements, and may take his place among the chiefs of the Thousands of Israel, the chiefs of the Hundreds, Fifties, and Tens, the Judges and the officers of their tribes, in all their families, [under the authority] of the sons of [Aar]on the Priests. And every head of family in the congregation who is chosen to hold office, [to go] and come before the congregation, shall strengthen his loins that he may perform his tasks among his brethren in accordance with his understanding and the perfection of his way. According to whether this is great or little, so shall one man be honoured more than another.

  When a man is advanced in years, he shall be given a duty in the [ser]vice of the congregation
in proportion to his strength.

  No simpleton shall be chosen to hold office in the congregation of Israel with regard to lawsuits or judgement, nor carry any responsibility in the congregation. Nor shall he hold any office in the war destined to vanquish the nations; his family shall merely inscribe him in the army register and he shall do his service in task-work in proportion to his capacity.

  The sons of Levi shall hold office, each in his place, under the authority of the sons of Aaron. They shall cause all the congregation to go and come, each man in his rank, under the direction of the heads of family of the congregation - the leaders, Judges, and officers, according to the number of all their hosts - under the authority of the sons of Zadok the Priests, [and] (under the direction) [of all the] heads of family of the congregation. And when the whole assembly is summoned for judgement, or for a Council of the Community, or for war, they shall sanctify them for three days that every one of its members may be prepared.

  These are the men who shall be called to the Council of the Community ...

  All the wi[se men] of the congregation, the learned and the intelligent, men whose way is perfect and men of ability, together with the tribal chiefs and all the Judges and officers, and the chiefs of the Thousands, [Hundreds,] II Fifties, and Tens, and the Levites, each man in the [cla]ss of his duty; these are the men of renown, the members of the assembly summoned to the Council of the Community in Israel before the sons of Zadok the Priests.

  And no man smitten with any human uncleanness shall enter the assembly of God; no man smitten with any of them shall be confirmed in his office in the congregation. No man smitten in his flesh, or paralysed in his feet or hands, or lame, or blind, or deaf, or dumb, or smitten in his flesh with a visible blemish; no old and tottery man unable to stay still in the midst of the congregation; none of these shall come to hold office among the congregation of the men of renown, for the Angels of Holiness are [with] their [congregation]. Should [one] of them have something to say to the Council of Holiness, let [him] be questioned privately; but let him not enter among [the congregation] for he is smitten.

  [This shall be the ass]embly of the men of renown [called] to the meeting of the Council of the Community

  When God engenders93 (the Priest-) Messiah, he shall come with them [at] the head of the whole congregation of Israel with all [his brethren, the sons] of Aaron the Priests, [those called] to the assembly, the men of renown; and they shall sit [before him, each man] in the order of his dignity. And then [the Mess]iah of Israel shall [come], and the chiefs of the [clans of Israel] shall sit before him, [each] in the order of his dignity, according to [his place] in their camps and marches. And before them shall sit all the heads of [family of the congreg]ation, and the wise men of [the holy congregation,] each in the order of his dignity.

  And [when] they shall gather for the common [tab]le, to eat and [to drink] new wine, when the common table shall be set for eating and the new wine [poured] for drinking, let no man extend his hand over the firstfruits of bread and wine before the Priest; for [it is he] who shall bless the firstfruits of bread and wine, and shall be the first [to extend] his hand over the bread. Thereafter, the Messiah of Israel shall extend his hand over the bread, [and] all the congregation of the Community [shall utter a] blessing, [each man in the order] of his dignity.

  It is according to this statute that they shall proceed at every me[al at which] at least ten men are gathered together.

  The War Scroll

  (IQM, 1Q33, 4Q491-7, 4Q471)

  The nineteen badly mutilated columns of this manuscript from Cave 1 first appeared in 1954 in a posthumous work by E. L. Sukenik, and were re-edited in 1955, with an English introduction, under the title The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University (Jerusalem). A few detached scraps are represented by 1Q33 and copious fragments of six further manuscripts were discovered in Cave 4, and published in 1982 by M. Baillet in DJD, VII (4Q491-6 or 4QMa-f). 4Q497 represents tiny fragments of a related text, and 4Q471 or 4QMg a shorter version of 1QM (cf. E. and H. Eshel, DJD, XXXVI, 439-45). For a new edition of all the War Scroll material except 4Q471 see J. Duhaime in J. H. Charlesworth et al., eds., The DSS II, Damascus Document, War Scroll and Related Documents, 1995, 80-203.

  Some of the 4Q fragments basically reflect the Cave 1 text and help to complete its gaps: Ma, Mb, Md and Me have been used for this purpose, especially in columns I, XIV and XIX. On the other hand, Ma and Mc attest different recensions of the War Rule. Representative sections from these manuscripts will be translated separately.

  The contents of the War Rule are as follows:

  Proclamation of war against the Kittim (I)

  Reorganization of Temple worship (II)

  Programme of the forty years’ war (II)

  The trumpets (III)

  The standards (III-IV)

  Disposition and weapons of the front formations (v)

  Movements of the attacking infantry (VI)

  Disposition and movements of the cavalry (VI)

  Age of the soldiers (VI-VII)

  The camp (VII)

  Duties of the Priests and Levites

  (exhortation, trumpet signals) (VII-IV)

  Addresses and prayers of the battle liturgy (X-XII)

  Prayer recited at the moment of victory (XIII)

  Thanksgiving ceremony (XIV)

  Battle against the Kittim (XV-XIX)

  Since the five last columns are more or less repetitious, there has been some doubt concerning the unity of the composition as a whole. Those who consider all nineteen columns to be the work of one writer find in column 1 an introduction, in columns II-XIV general rules, and in columns XV-XIX a ‘prophetic’ description of the final battle fought according to those rules. Other experts explain that columns XV-XIX are a Rule annexe dependent on the principal Rule (II-XIV).

  I am myself inclined to follow the theory first advanced by J. van der Ploeg (Le Rouleau de la guerre, Leiden, 1959, 11-22). The primitive work, represented in the present composition by columns 1 and XV-XIX, draws its inspiration from Daniel xi, 40-XII, 3, and describes the final battle against the Kittim. This account was later combined with the concept of a holy forty years’ war against the entire Gentile world, and was extended by the addition of a long series of Rules concerned with the military and religious preparation and with the conduct of the fighting (columns II-XIV). This appears to me to offer a more satisfactory explanation of the literary complexities of the manuscript than do the previous hypotheses. The text of the manuscripts from Cave 4, especially Ma (4Q491) and Mc (4Q493)> indicate that diverse redactions of the War Rule coexisted in the Qumran library.

  The only certain pointer to the date of the compilation of the War Rule is that, since the author made use of the Book of Daniel written shortly after 164 BCE, his own work must have been started after that time. But a more accurate dating may be attempted by studying the military strategy and tactics described in the Scroll. Scholars are divided in their opinion as to whether the sons of light modelled them on Greek or Roman custom, or whether they merely drew their ideas from the Bible. Scripture doubtless exercised a definite influence on the author of this Rule, but there is nevertheless a great deal of material completely foreign to it, and he must have possessed, in addition, at least some acquaintance with contemporary warfare.

  With Y. Yadin and other archaeologists and historians, I believe that both the weapons and the tactics of the War Rule correspond to the art of war practised by the Roman legion rather than by the Greek phalanx. In particular, the square shield (scutum) of the foot-soldier, and the buckler of the horseman (parma or clipeus), the battle array of three lines (acies triplex), the ‘gates of war’ or openings between the units (intervalla), seem to be characteristically Roman. In addition, only the cavalry were to wear greaves - a custom introduced into the Roman army during the time of Julius Caesar in the middle of the first century BCE. This and similar details, as well as the general representation of the Kittim as masters of the world,
lead one to conclude that the War Rule was written some time after the middle of the first century BCE, and since the reference to the ‘king’ of the Kittim points to the Imperial epoch (after 27 BCE), the date of its composition should probably be placed in the last decades of the first century BCE or at the beginning of the first century CE.

  This work should not be mistaken for a manual of military warfare pure and simple. It is a theological writing, and the war of which it treats symbolizes the eternal struggle between the spirits of Light and Darkness. The phases of its battle are fixed in advance, its plan established and its duration predetermined. The opposing forces are equally matched and only by the intervention of ‘the mighty hand of God’ is the balance between them to be disturbed when he deals an ‘everlasting blow’ to ‘Belial and all the host of his kingdom’.

  I For the M[aster. The Rule of] War on the unleashing of the attack of the sons of light against the company of the sons of darkness, the army of Belial: against the band of Edom, Moab,and the sons ofAmmon, and [against the army of the sons of the East and] the Philistines, and against the bands of the Kittim of Assyriaand their allies the ungodly of the Covenant.

  The sons of Levi, Judah, and Benjamin, the exiles in the desert, shall battle against them in ... all their bands when the exiled sons of light return from the Desert of the Peoples to camp in the Desert of Jerusalem; and after the battle they shall go up from there (to Jerusalem?).

  [The king] of the Kittim [shall enter] into Egypt, and in his time he shall set out in great wrath to wage war against the kings of the north, that his fury may destroy and cut the horn of [Israel]. This shall be a time of salvation for the people of God, an age of dominion for all the members of His company, and of everlasting destruction for all the company of Belial. The confusion of the sons of Japheth shall be [great] and Assyria shall fall unsuccoured. The dominion of the Kittim shall come to an end and iniquity shall be vanquished, leaving no remnant; [for the sons] of darkness there shall be no escape. [The sons of righteous]ness shall shine over all the ends of the earth; they shall go on shining until all the seasons of darkness are consumed and, at the season appointed by God, His exalted greatness shall shine eternally to the peace, blessing, glory, joy, and long life of all the sons of light.