Damascus Document

From the Dead Sea Scrolls in English

Chapter 1

THE EXHORTATION

DD 1:1   “Hear now, all you who know righteousness, and consider the works of God; for He has a dispute with all flesh and will condemn all those who despise Him.”

DD 1:2   “For when they were unfaithful and forsook Him, He hid His face from Israel and His Sanctuary and delivered them up to the sword.  But remembering the Covenant of the forefathers, He left a remnant to Israel and did not deliver it up to be destroyed.  And in the age of wrath, three hundred and ninety years after He had given them into the hand of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, He visited them, and He caused a plant root to spring from Israel and Aaron to inherit His Land and to prosper on the good things of His earth. And they perceived their iniquity and recognized that they were guilty men, yet for twenty years they were like blind men groping for the way.”

DD 1:3   “And God observed their deeds, that they sought Him with a whole heart, and He raised for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide them in the way of His heart.  And he made known to the latter generations that which God had done to the latter generation, the congregation of traitors, to those who departed from the way.  This was the time of which it is written, Like a stubborn heifer thus was Israel stubborn (Hos 4:16), when the Scoffer arose who shed over Israel the waters of lies.  He caused them to wander in a pathless wilderness, laying low the everlasting heights, abolishing the ways of righteousness and removing the boundary with which the forefathers had marked out their inheritance that he might call down on them the curses of His Covenant and deliver them up to the avenging sword of the Covenant. For they sought smooth things and preferred illusions (Isa 30:10) and they watched for breaks (Isa 30:13) and chose the fair neck; and they justified the wicked and condemned the just, and they transgressed the Covenant and violated the Precept.  They banded together against the life of the righteous (Ps 94:21) and loathed all who walked in perfection; they pursued them with the sword and exulted in the strife of the people.  And the anger of God was kindled against their congregation so that He ravaged all their multitude; and their deeds were defilement before Him.”