The Qumran Community · a new plain-English translation from the original language
By it the sons of Noah strayed, and their families; by it they were cut off [...]
Abraham did not walk in it, and was reckoned a friend for keeping the commandments of God, and did not choose
his own will [...] and he handed it down to Isaac and to Jacob, and they kept it and were recorded as friends
of God and partners in the covenant forever [...] the sons of Jacob strayed because of them and were punished for
their errors [...] and their sons, while in Egypt, followed the willful obstinacy of their heart, taking counsel against
the commandments of God, each one acting as seemed good to himself, and they ate the blood [...] and he cut off
their males in the wilderness. He said to them at Kadesh, 'Go up and possess the land,' but they followed their own spirit and did not listen
to the voice of their Maker, the commands of their Teacher, but murmured in their tents, and the anger of God burned
against their congregation [...] and their sons perished by it, and their kings were cut off by it, and their mighty men by it
perished, and their land became desolate by it [...] by it the first ones who entered the covenant were given up, and they were delivered
to the sword, for they abandoned God's covenant, chose their own desire, and strayed after the obstinacy
of their heart, each one acting on his own desire [...] but among those who clung steadfastly to God's commandments
who remained of them, God established His covenant with Israel forever, to reveal
to them the concealed matters in which the whole of Israel had gone astray: His holy Sabbaths and the festivals
of His glory, His righteous testimonies, and His true ways, and the desires of His will, which
a man is to perform and gain life through them. He laid open before them [...] and they dug a well for abundant waters
but those who rejected them shall not live [...] and they wallowed in the sin of man and in the ways of impurity
and they said, 'It is ours' [...] but God, by His wondrous mysteries, atoned for their iniquity and forgave their sin
and He built for them a faithful house in Israel, the like of which has never existed from former times till
now [...] those who hold fast to it are for everlasting life, and all the glory of Adam is theirs, just as
God established for them through Ezekiel the prophet, saying: the priests, the Levites, and the descendants