And during the period of the destruction of the land there arose those who removed the landmark
2and led Israel astray. And the land became desolate because they spake rebellion against the commandments of God through Moses and also through His holy anointed one, and they prophesied a lie to turn away Israel from God.
3But God remembered the covenant with the forefathers: And He raised up from Aaron men of understanding, And from Israel wise men,
4And He made them to hearken, And they digged the well:
5'A well the princes digged, The nobles of the people delved it By the order of the Lawgiver.'
6The well is the Law, and they who digged it are the penitents of Israel who went forth out of the land of Judah and sojourned in the land of Damascus, all of whom God called princes.
7For they sought Him and His glory was not turned back in the mouth of one of them.
8And the Lawgiver is he who studies the Law, in regard to whom Isaiah said, 'He bringeth forth an instrument for his work.'
9And the nobles of the people are those who came to dig the well by the precepts in the which the Lawgiver ordained that they should walk throughout the full period of the wickedness.
10And save them they shall get nothing until there arises the Teacher of Righteousness in the end of the days.
11And none who have entered into the covenant shall enter into the Sanctuary to kindle His altar but they shall shut the doors concerning whom God said, 'O that there was one among you to shut the doors, So that ye might not vainly kindle the fire upon My altar,'
12Unless they observe to do according to the true meaning of the Law until the period of the wickedness, and to sever themselves from the children of the pit, and to hold aloof from the polluted wealth of wickedness under a vow and a curse, and from the wealth of the Sanctuary:
13And in respect to robbing the poor of His people, So that widows may be their spoil, And they may murder the fatherless:
14And to make a difference between the clean and the unclean and to make men discern between the holy and the profane:
15And to observe the Sabbath according to its true meaning and the feasts and the day of the Fast according to the utterances of them who entered into the New Covenant in the land of Damascus:
16To contribute their holy things according to the true interpretation:
17To love every one his brother as himself, and to strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy and the stranger, and to seek every one the peace of his brother:
18To hold aloof from harlots according to the law: and that no man should commit a trespass against his next of kin:
19To rebuke every one his brother according to the commandment, and not to bear a grudge from day to day, and to separate from all the pollutions according to their judgments:
20And no man shall make abominable with these his holy spirit, according as God separated these from them.
21As for all those who walk in these things in the perfection of holiness according to all the ordinances, the covenant of God standeth fast unto them to preserve them to a thousand generations; as it is written: 'Who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.'