And if they settle in camps according to the order of the land and the ancient statutes, and take wives according to the custom of the Law and beget children, they shall walk according to the Law, and according to the judgments of the ordinances according to the order of the Law as He spake, between a man and his wife, and between a father and his son.
2But as for all them that reject the commandments and the statutes, when God will bring a visitation upon the land they shall be requited with the recompense of the wicked;
3When there shall come to pass the word which is written in the words of Isaiah the son of Amos the prophet, who said: 'He will bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy father's house days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah'; and by the hand of Zechariah the prophet: 'O sword, awake against My shepherd and against the man that is My fellow, saith God; smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn Mine hand against the little ones.'
4When the two houses of Israel separated, Ephraim departed from Judah, and all who proved faithless were delivered to the sword, and those who held fast escaped into the land of the North.
5As He said, 'And I will cause to go into captivity Siccuth your King and Chiun your images, the star of your god which ye made for yourselves beyond Damascus.'
6The books of the Law are the tabernacle of the King, as He said, 'And I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.'
7The King is the congregation and Chiun the images are the books of the Prophets, whose words Israel has despised.
8And the Star is he who studied the Law, who came to Damascus, as it is written, 'There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.'
9The scepter is the prince of all the congregation.
10And when he shall destroy all the sons of battle din, and they that give heed unto Him are the poor of the flock: these shall escape during the period of the visitation, but the rest that proved faithless shall be handed over to the sword when the Messiah comes from Aaron and Israel.
11Just as it was during the period of the first visitation, concerning which He spake through Ezekiel to set a mark upon the foreheads of them that sigh and cry, but the rest were delivered to the sword that avengeth with the vengeance of the covenant.
12And this also shall be the judgment of all them who have entered into His covenant, who will not hold fast to these statutes: they shall be visited for destruction through the hand of Belial.
13This is the day on which God shall visit, as He hath spoken: 'The princes of Judah were like them that remove the landmark; upon them will I pour out My wrath like water.'
14For they are too sick to be healed, and they have been at the head of all the rebels.
15Because they entered into the covenant of repentance and yet have not turned from the way of traitors, but have wallowed in the ways of harlots and dealt wantonly in fornication, and in the wealth of wickedness and in revenge.
16And every man beareth a grudge against his brother, and every man hateth his neighbor.
17And they committed trespass every man against his next of kin, and drew near to unchastity, and made themselves strong and exalted themselves with a view to wealth and unjust gain, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
18And they chose every man the stubbornness of his heart, and they separated not from the people and their sins.
19And they cast off restraint with a high hand to walk in the way of the wicked, concerning whom God said: 'Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.'
20The dragons are the kings of the Gentiles and their wine is their ways, and the venom of asps is the head of the kings of Javan, who came to execute vengeance upon them.
21But despite all these things they who builded the wall and daubed it with untempered mortar perceived not,
22For one who was perturbed of spirit, who walked in wind and weighed storms and talked lying words to man, talked to them that the wrath of God was kindled against all His congregation:
23Nor that Moses said to Israel: 'Not for thy righteousness nor for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go in to inherit these nations, but because He loved thy fathers and because He would keep the oath.'
24And such is the case of the penitents of Israel who turned aside from the way of the people.
25Owing to the love of God for the forefathers who stirred up and admonished the people to follow after God, He loved them that came after them; for theirs is the covenant of the fathers.
26But God hates and abhors the builders of the wall, and His wrath was kindled against them and against all who follow after them.
27And such will be the case of all who reject the commandments of God, and forsake them and turn away in the stubbornness of their heart.
28This is the word which Jeremiah spake to Baruch the son of Neriah, and Elisha to his servant Gehazi: so are all the men who entered into the New Covenant in the land of Damascus, and yet turned backward and acted treacherously and departed from the spring of living waters.
29They shall not be reckoned in the assembly of the people, and in its register they shall not be written, from the day when there was gathered in the Unique Teacher until there shall arise the Messiah from Aaron and from Israel.
30And such is the case for all that enter into the congregation of the men of the perfection of holiness.
31And as for him who abhors doing precepts of upright men, he is the man who is melted in the furnace: when his deeds become known he shall be expelled from the congregation, as though his lot had not fallen among them that are taught of God.
32According to his trespass they shall record him as a perverted man until he come back to stand in the office of the men of the perfection of holiness.
33And when his deeds become known in accordance with the midrash of the Law in which walk the men of the perfection of holiness, no man shall consent to be with him in wealth and labor; for all the saints of the Most High have cursed him.
34And such shall be the case of every one who rejects the first and the last, who have placed idols upon their hearts and walked in the stubbornness of their hearts.
35They have no share in the House of the Law.
36With a judgment like unto that of their neighbors who turned away with the scornful men, they shall be judged.
37For they spake error against the statutes of righteousness, and rejected the covenant and the pledge of faith, which they had affirmed in the land of Damascus; and this is the New Covenant.
38And there shall not be unto them nor unto their families a share in the House of the Law.
39And from the day when there was gathered in the Unique Teacher until all the men of war were consumed who walked with the man of lies about forty years,
40And during this period there shall be kindled the wrath of God against Israel as He said, 'There is no king and no prince and no judge, and none that rebuketh in righteousness.'
41Those who repented of transgression in Jacob observed the covenant of God.
42Then they spake each man with his neighbor to strengthen one another: 'Let our steps hold fast to the way of God.'
43And God hearkened to their words and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared God and that thought upon His name, until salvation and righteousness be revealed for them that fear God.
44Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.
45And He showeth mercy unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His commandments for a thousand generations.
46From the house of Peleg that have gone out from the holy city,
47And they trusted in God throughout the period that Israel trespassed and polluted the Sanctuary and returned again to molten images.
48The people with few words shall all be judged, each according to his spirit in the counsel of holiness.
49And as for all those who have broken down the landmark of the Law amongst those who entered into the covenant, when there shall shine forth the glory of God to Israel, they shall be cut off from the midst of the camp, and with all those who do wickedly of Judah in the days of its testing.
50But all they who hold fast by these judgments in going out and coming in according to the Law, and listen to the voice of the Teacher and confess before God, saying:
51'We have done wickedly, we and our fathers, Because we have walked contrary to the statutes of the covenant, And true is thy judgment against us:'
52And who lift not the hand against His holy statutes, His righteous judgment, and the testimony of His truth;
53And are chastised by the first judgments with which the children of men were judged, and give ear to the voice of the Unique Teacher of Righteousness, and reject not the statutes of righteousness when they hear them:
54They shall rejoice and be glad, And their heart shall exult, And they shall make themselves strong against all the children of the world, And God will pardon them And they shall see His salvation; For they trust in His holy name.