Community Rule Prayer and Blessing Material

Community Rule — Prayer and Blessing Material

[Liturgical extracts drawn from the Community Rule; the legal and instructional body of the Rule is filed under its own number.]

[The blessing and the curse at the entry into the covenant]

The priests shall bless all the men of the lot of God, who walk perfectly in all his ways, and say: May he bless you with all good, and keep you from all evil; may he enlighten your heart with the wisdom of life, and favor you with eternal knowledge; may he lift up his merciful face toward you for everlasting peace.

And the Levites shall curse all the men of the lot of Belial, and say: Cursed be you in all your guilty deeds of wickedness. May God make you a terror by the hand of all who take vengeance, and bring upon you destruction by the hand of all who repay. Cursed be you without mercy, in the darkness of your works; may you be damned in the gloom of everlasting fire. May God show you no favor when you call, and grant you no pardon. And all who enter the covenant shall answer, Amen, amen.

[From the closing hymn of the Instructor]

I will sing with knowledge,

and all my music is for the glory of God.

At the coming of day and night I enter the covenant of God;

when evening and morning depart, I tell his statutes.

Blessed are you, my God,

who opens the heart of your servant to knowledge.

What can I say that is not known,

or speak that has not been told?

From you comes the way of every living thing,

and apart from your will nothing is done.

[Fragment breaks here]