Qumran Covenant Ceremony Blessings and Curses

The Community Rule (Serekh Hayaḥad), one of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran, begins with a description of the covenant ceremony though which new members enter the yaḥad (the community’s name for itself). The community’s theology is highly dualistic: the lot of God, the “sons of light,” are the members of the community; their enemies are the lot of Belial, the “sons of darkness.” The ceremony ends with the priests blessing the community and the Levites cursing their enemies. The blessing offered here expands on the biblical priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24–26. The Levitical curses are the obverse of this blessing. See also “The Rule of the Community.”