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litigation, he is to say to the overseer.
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Of The Communal Economy (xiv, 12-18)
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This is the rule for regulating public needs.
Their wages for at least two days per month are to be handed over to the overseer. The judges are then
to take thereof and give it away for the benefit of orphans. The are also to support therefrom the poor
and needy,
aged who are dying, the [ ] persons captured by foreign peoples, unprotected girls, unmarriageable
virgins, general communal officials [ ].
This, in specific form, is the way [ ] is to be disposed [ ] [com]munally.
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Of Personal Morality (xiv, 18-22)
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And these, in specific form, are the regulations which they are to follow throughout the Era of
Wickedness, until the priestly and lay 'messiahs' enter upon their office and expiate their iniquities.
No one is to practice conscious falsehood in matters of money [ ]; he is to be mulcted [of his rations]
for six days.
If a man utter [ ], [or harbor an] unjustified [grudge against bis neighbor, he is to be mulcted for one]
year [ ].
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III [IV, init.]
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Of Oaths (xv, 1-xvi, 20)
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No one is to take the oath by EL- (*) or by AD—, (†) but only by a formula of assent which invokes
the curses prescribed in the Covenant [cf. Lev. 26.14—45]. (66) Nor is he to make mention in this
connection of the Law of Moses, for (the name of God is spelled out in that Law); so that if he swears
by it and then transgresses, he commits profanation of the Holy Name; whereas if he swears before the
judges by the curses of the Covenant—then, if he transgresses, he becomes liable only for a guilt-
offering, confession and restitution, but does not have to pay the penalty of death. (66a)
It is to be a perpetual ordinance for the whole of Israel that whoever enters into the Covenant is to
impose the oath of the Covenant also upon his sons when they reach the age for the preliminary
examination.
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[*] The initial letters of ELohim, the Hebrew word for 'God'.
[†] The initial letters of ADonai, the Hebrew word for 'Lord'.
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Similarly, it is to be the rule throughout the Epoch of Wickedness that anyone who repents his corrupt
conduct is to be enrolled, on the day when he speaks of it to the general overseer, with an oath binding
him to the Covenant which Moses made with Israel—that is, with a covenanted obligation that [in all]
the varied activities of his life he will return to the Law of Moses with all his heart and soul. No one,
however, is to acquaint him with the regulations of the community prior to his actually standing in the
presence of the overseer, lest, when the latter examines him, he turn out to be a dolt. But once the
overseer has sworn him by oath to return to the Law of Moses with all his heart and soul, he is to be
liable to punishment for any breach of faith. If he fail to understand anything in the Law which is
patently revealed to the normal mind, the overseer is to [ ] and then issue an order concerning him that
he be kept in confinement for a full year on the grounds of its having been ascertained that he is feeble-
minded and deranged.
In the case of one who is a chronic imbecile or is insane, the judge is to come and [ ]. Such a man is
not to appear in public. ... [The next two lines are fragmentary, and four more have been lost.]
There is an ancient text which says: 'It was by the Law of Moses that God made the covenant with you
and with all Israel'. (67) It is for this reason that the man [who enters the Covenant] must pledge
himself 'to return to the Law of Moses'. Therein is everything explicitly spelled out, while an exact
specification of the time when Israel will be blind to all these things is spelled out with equal exactness
in the Book of the Divisions of the Times into their Jubilees and Weeks. (68)
On the day that a man pledges himself to return to the Law of Moses, the Angel of Obstruction (69)
will start receding from him—that is, if he keep his word. It is in line with this that Abraham
underwent circumcision on the day that he attained true knowledge.
In all cases where a man pledges himself by a binding oath to perform any precept of the Law, he is
not to free himself therefrom even at the price of death. For this is what Scripture means when it says,
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe', i.e., 'to make good' [Deut. 23.23]. On the other
hand, in all cases where a man pledges himself by a binding oath to depart from the Law, he is not to
confirm it even at the price of death.
Now, concerning a woman's oath. Scripture says that it is her husband's duty in certain cases to void
her oath [cf. Num. 30.14]. He is not to do so, however, if he does not know whether it is one that ought
to be made good or voided. If it involves transgression of the Covenant, he is to void it and not make it
good. The same rule applies also to her father.
Now, concerning the rules for free-will offerings. No one is to vow for the altar anything acquired by
violence; nor, indeed, are the priests to accept from a layman anything so acquired. No one is to offer
polluted food for sacred purposes. That is what Scripture means when it says, They trap each man his
neighbor in respect to the consecrated thing' [Mic. 7.2].... [Five fragmentary lines.]
The Letter Of The Law: Ordinances
* * *
Cp. Deut. 23.25-26
If any man thereof (1) construct a threshing floor or a wine press, anyone belonging to the community
of Israel (2) who comes upon it and himself has nothing (3) may feed himself from it and gather for
himself and [his] household]. Within the field he may eat to his satisfaction, (4) but he may not bring
anything home to deposit it (there). (5)
Cp. Exod. 30.11-16
Regarding the assessment of half a shekel which everyone is to furnish as coverage for his own person,
(6) (for this) there is to be a single [scale of value] throughout his life: (7) the shekel is to be estimated
as twenty gerahs, in accordance with the standard used for sacred purposes. (8) (Thus,) the 600,000
men (with Moses in the Wilderness) (9) would have had to pay (a total of) one hundred talents; (10)
each of the three (customary divisions of the armed forces), (11) half a talent; (12) and a contingent of
fifty men, (13) half a mina, i.e. 25 shekels ...
(There follows a specification of equivalencies, but the text is too fragmentary for translation.)
Ephah and bath are equivalent. (14)
. . . . . (15)
Cp. Lev. 25.42
They may not serve as slaves to Gentiles, (living) among foreigners, [for when the LORD brought
them out of the land of] He enjoined upon them the commandment that they should not be sold as a
slave is sold. [For the settlement of legal disputes there shall be a council of te]n laymen and two
priests, (16) and it is to these twelve that recourse must be had ... If, within (the community of) Israel,
a capital charge be preferred, these men's opinion must be sought.
Cp. Jos. 1.18
Anyone who offers defiance and takes the law into his own hands, (17) is to be put to death.
Cp. Deut. 22.5
A woman is not to put on the accoutrements of a man; and a man is not to clothe himself in the cloak
of a woman, nor wear a woman's shift; for that is an abomination. (18)
Cp. Deut. 22.14-21
If a man impugn the virtue (19) of an Israelite virgin, alleging that he married her [under false
pretenses], she shall be reliably examined, and if he has not lied about her, she shall be put to death.
But if (it be shown that) he has borne [false] witness against her, he shall be fined two minas, and he
may not20 divorce her for the rest of his life... (The rest is fragmentary)
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Our God and God of our fathers,
bless us with the threefold blessing in the Law,
written by the hand of Thy servant Moses,
spoken by the mouth of Aaron and his sons,
the priests, Thy holy people:
'The Lord bless thee, and keep thee;
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
and be gracious unto thee;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee,
and give thee peace'.
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