The Community Rule (1QS) was one of the first of the Qumran scrolls to be found and remains one of the most important. It provides a set of regulations to govern the life of a community living an independent existence and is most naturally interpreted as being intended for those members of the wider Essene movement who lived at Qumran. But it contains more than a series of rules; two obvious exceptions are the section on the two spirits, which represents an important statement of the community's beliefs, and the hymnic material with which the document ends (the latter is not translated here).

The existence of a series of headings throughout the Rule, together with the fact that the manuscript itself has been divided into paragraphs by marginal signs and by blank lines and spaces, serves to divide the document into a number of separate sections. The major divisions are as follows: statement of the aims of the community, i.1–15; entry into the community, i.16–iii.12; the teaching of the community, iii.13–iv.26; the common life, v.1–vii.25; programme for a new community, viii.1–ix.26a; a liturgical calendar and concluding hymn, ix.26b–xi.22. It is difficult to believe that these sections all belonged together originally, and indeed it seems clear not only that the Rule as a whole is a composite document, but also that the major sections listed above are in some cases composed of smaller units which were originally independent.