Józef Tadeusz Milik (Seroczyn,
Poland, 24 March 1922 –
Paris, 6 January 2006) was a Polish
biblical scholar and a Catholic priest, researcher of the
Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) through the deserts of Judea/Jordan, and translator and editor of the
Book of Enoch in Aramaic (fragments).[1]
He was born into a peasant family in a small village in central
Poland. His father, despite being a farmer, was interested in science, educated himself and gathered a rich library. He influenced his son, who finished the gymnasium in
Siedlce and later entered the theological college in
Płock in 1939. When the college was closed by Germans after they invaded Poland, he moved to Warsaw. After the
World War II, he studied at
Catholic University of Lublin and in 1946 was ordained a priest.
Józef Milik deciphered hundreds of the texts of the
Dead Sea Scrolls as a member of the publication team. He started translating and publishing them in the early 1950s while a student at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.[2]
Then he joined
Roland de Vaux’s team and helped to discover Cave 3, excavated and unearthed hundreds of fragments from Cave 4, and took part in the discovery and excavations of Caves 5 and 6. He later became one of the most essential participants of the translation and publication team.
1951 Began working in
Jerusalem to decipher DSS; devised a system of designating the fragments
1955 Co-edited first major DSS publication for Cave 1 texts: "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert"
1956 Heralded by
Time magazine as "the fastest man with a fragment"
1959 Published Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea describing the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery (revision and translation of the 1957 book "Dix ans de découvertes dans le Désert de Juda")
1969 Leaves the priesthood and marries Polish art historian Jolanta Zaluska in
Rome. Moves to
Paris
Milik (1978). Écrits préesséniens de Qumran : d’Hénoch à Amram.
Martinez/Tigchelaar (1999). The Dead Sea Scrolls Edition [Hénoc au pays des aromates pp. 413, 425, 430]; Caves 1 to 11 & more, with Aramaic frag. and English translation.
Puech Emile (2000). “Milik, Jozef T.” in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls edited by Lawrence Schiffman and James VanderKam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, I:552–554.
Robert Feather and Zdzislaw J. Kapera (2011). Jozef Milik, Doyen of The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Enigma Press, Krakow - Mogilany.
^The Enoch Scroll from Qumran Library Cave 4 has provided parts in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery between 1947 and 1956. Table of Contents: Aramaic Book of Enoch; Astronomical Book; Book of Watchers; Book of Dreams; Book of Giants; Enochic Writings.