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But the ethical part [the Essenes] study very industriously, taking for their trainers the laws of their fathers, which could not possibly have been conceived by the human soul without divine inspiration. In these they are instructed at all other times, but particularly on the seventh day. For that day has been set apart to be kept holy and on it they abstain from all other work and proceed to sacred spots which they call synagogues. There, arranged in rows according to their ages, the younger below the elder, they sit decorously as befits the occasion with attentive ears. Then one takes the books and reads aloud and another of especial proficiency comes forward and expounds what is not understood (Philo, Prob. 80–83).

Their piety towards the Deity takes a peculiar form. Before the sun is up they utter no word on mundane matters, but offer to him certain prayers, which have been handed down from their forefathers, as though entreating him to rise. They are then dismissed by their superiors to the various crafts in which they are severally proficient and are strenuously employed until the fifth hour, when they again assemble in one place and, after girding their loins with linen cloths, bathe their bodies in cold water. After this purification, they assemble in a private apartment which none of the uninitiated is permitted to enter; pure now themselves, they repair to the refectory as to some sacred shrine. When they have taken their seats in silence, the baker serves out the loaves to them in order, and the cook sets before each one plate with a single course. Before meal the priest says a grace, and none may partake until after the prayer. When breakfast is ended, he pronounces a further grace; thus at the beginning and at the close they do homage to God as the bountiful giver of life. Then laying aside their raiment, as holy vestments, they again betake themselves to their labours until the evening. On their return they sup in like manner, and any guests who may have arrived sit down with them (Josephus, BJ 2.128–132).

This is the rule for the session of the Many: each (member) in his order. The priest shall sit first, the elders second, and the rest of the people shall sit each (member) in his order (1QS 6.8–9).

On the trumpets of the men of renown, chiefs of the fathers of the congregation when they gather in the house of meeting, they shall write "Fixed times of God for the holy council" (1QM 3.3–4).

And whoever comes to the house of prostration, let him not come (when he is still) unclean after washing; and when the trumpets of the assembly sound, let him come before or later, but let them not interrupt the entire service (CD 11.22–23).

All those who entered the congregation of the men of perfect holiness but recoiled from doing the regulations of the upright . . . have no portion in the house of the Torah. With the judgment of their neighbors who turned away with the men of mockery they shall be judged, for they spoke deviantly of the statutes of righteousness and despised the covenant and the oath which they had taken in the land of Damascus; that is, the new covenant. And neither they nor their families will have any portion in the house of the Torah (CD 20.2, 10–13).

"House of the Torah" (bêt hatôrâh) may be another term the Essenes had for their synagogue buildings, though the expression may also refer metaphorically to the Essene community itself.