The priests are the penitents of Israel who went forth out of the land of Judah:
2and the Levites are they who joined them. And the sons of Zadok are the elect of Israel called by
3the name, that are holding office in the end of the days. Behold the statement of their names according to their generations, and the period of their office, and the number of their afflictions, and the years of their sojournings, and the statement of their works.
4The first saints whom God pardoned, Both justified the righteous, and condemned the wicked.
5And all they who come after them must do according to the interpretation of the Law, In which the forefathers were instructed until the consummation of the period of these years.
6In accordance with the covenant which God established with the forefathers in order to pardon their sins, so shall God make atonement for them.
7And on the consummation of the period of the number of these years they shall no more join themselves to the house of Judah. But shall every one stand up against his net.
8The wall shall have been built, the boundary been far removed.
9And during all these years Belial shall be let loose against Israel, as God spake through Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, saying: 'Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the land.'
10This means the three nets of Belial, concerning which Levi the son of Jacob spake, by which he caught Israel and directed their faces to three kinds of righteousness.
11The first is fornication, the second is the wealth of wickedness, the third is the pollution of the Sanctuary.
12He that cometh up from this shall be caught by that, and he that escapeth from this shall be caught by that.