The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

The commentary explains my choice of text where variant readings occur and addresses specific problems raised by the new information found in 4QEnoch. Similarly, I have attempted to reconstruct the position of the 4QEn fragments within the columns and lines of the original scrolls; such numbering, of course, has only an approximate value.

Readers may verify my decipherment by consulting the plates, which contain all the fragments published here, as well as the diplomatic transcriptions appended to this volume.

This monograph could not have existed without the constant encouragement of the late Père R. de Vaux, O.P., and the friendly collaboration of Professor Matthew Black of the University of St. Andrews. Professor Black arranged for an English translation of my French manuscript and prepared the first draft of the English version of the Aramaic sections. I owe him several corrections, observations, and valuable suggestions, and I am grateful for his help in checking the proofs.

I also wish to thank Professor Joseph Trinquet of the Catholic Institute, Paris, for his continuous help in reading the Ge'ez text of the Ethiopic Enoch; Professor Gérard Garitte of the University of Louvain for undertaking the Latin translation of the Coptic fragments for me; M. Jean Starcky and Mr. John Strugnell, my co-editors of the Qumrân Cave 4 manuscripts, for the loan of photographs and transcriptions; Professor G. Vajda for information on Jewish medieval literature; and the late Professor Nougayrol for references to Babylonian cosmology. Most especially, I thank my wife, Yolanta Zaluska, for her constant encouragement, assistance with the typescript, and information regarding Enoch in iconography and medieval Latin literature. Finally, I acknowledge the help provided by the staff of the Oxford University Press.

JÓZEF T. MILIK

Paris, September 1974