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The Damascus Document — Column 5

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

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And those who entered the ark, two by two, entered the ark [...] and concerning the prince it is written,

"He shall not multiply wives for himself" [...] and David had not read in the sealed book of the Torah which

was in the ark, for no one in Israel had unsealed it since the day Eleazar died

and Joshua, and Joshua and the elders who served the Ashtoreth [...] and he hid it away.

It was not revealed until Zadok arose [...] and the deeds of David rose up, except for the blood of Uriah,

and God left these to him [...] and also they defile the sanctuary, in that they do not

separate as the law requires, and lay with a woman experiencing her flow of blood [...] and take

each man the daughter of his brother and the daughter of his sister [...] and Moses said,

"You shall not approach your mother's sister; she is the flesh of your mother." [...] and the law of forbidden unions applies to males,

so it is written, and as for them, the women [...] and should the brother's daughter expose the brother's nakedness

of her father, she is flesh [...] and also they have defiled their holy spirit, and with a blasphemous

tongue they have opened their mouth against the statutes of God's covenant, saying, "They are not established," and it is an abomination

that they speak concerning them [...] all of them are kindlers of fire and lighters of flames, spider's

webs are their webs, and adders' eggs are their eggs [...] whoever comes near them

shall not go unpunished [...] the more he consorts with them, the more he multiplies guilt, unless he is compelled [...] but formerly, God took note

of their deeds, and his wrath burned against their doings, for it is not a people of understanding [...]

they are a nation void of counsel, since there is no discernment in them [...] for formerly there stood

Moses and Aaron, by the hand of the Prince of Lights, but Belial raised up Jannes and

his brother, by his cunning device, when Israel was saved the first time [...]

and in the time of the devastation of the land there arose those who remove the boundary, and they led Israel astray [...]

and the land became desolate, for they spoke rebellion against the commandments of God given through Moses, and also

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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