In the so-called Damascus Document, several fragments of which were also found at Qumran (site of the Dead Sea Scrolls), it is stated, “Concerning purification with water: Let not a man wash in water that is filthy or not enough to cover a man.” Transl. in Millar Burrows, The Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Viking Press, 1955), p. 359; Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1962), p. 111.

This translation assumes that the word mar‘el (root r‘l) means “cover.” The word was not in common use, according to available lexicons, but the Hebrew words ra‘ûl “veiled” and r^e‘ala^h “veil” apparently come from a root meaning “to cover” (cf. Charles Schechter, Millön ‘ibrŒí-’ang^eli Kôlel [Tel Aviv: Yabuch, 1962], Vol. 2, p. 724).