''Se’īrīm'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: , singular ''sa'ir'') are a kind of demon. ''Sa’ir'' was the ordinary Hebrew word for "

he-goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

", and it is not always clear what the word's original meaning might have been. But in early Jewish thought, represented by ''targumim'' and possibly

3 Baruch 3 Baruch or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch is a visionary, pseudepigraphic text written some time between the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman Empire in 70 AD and the third century AD. Scholars disagree on whether it was written by a Jew or a Chris ...

, along with translations of the Hebrew Bible such as the

Peshitta The Peshitta ( syc, ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ ''or'' ') is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...

and

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

, the ''se’īrīm'' were understood as demons. They are considered to be the lowst of all created beings. ''Se'īrīm'' are frequently compared with the ''

shedim ''Shedim'' ( he, שֵׁדִים; singular: ''Shed'') are spirits or demons in the Tanakh and Jewish mythology. However, they are not necessarily equivalent to the modern connotation of demons as evil entities. Evil spirits were thought as the ...

'' of Hebrew tradition, along with

satyrs In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exag ...

of Greek mythology,

faun The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their c ...

s of Roman mythology and

jinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also Romanization of Arabic, romanized as djinn or Anglicization, anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are Invisibility, invisible creatures in early Arabian mytho ...

of Arab culture. Thus predicts, in Karen L. Edwards's translation: "But ''wild animals'' 'ziim''will lie down there, and its houses will be full of ''howling creatures'' 'ohim'' there

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...

es will live, and there ''goat-demons'' 'sa’ir''will dance." Similarly, declares: "''

Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

s'' 'ziim''shall meet with ''

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...

s'' 'iim'' ''goat-demons'' 'sa’ir''shall call to each other; there too ''

Lilith Lilith ( ; he, Wiktionary:לילית, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian Mythology, Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. ...

'' 'lilit''shall repose and find a place to rest." In the Latin

translation of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

, ''sa’ir'' is translated as "''

pilosus ''Anthodiscus pilosus'' (chamisa, tahuari, botón caspi, botón huayo or tahuarí amarillo) is a plant species in the genus '' Anthodiscus'' found in Amazonian Colombia and Peru. ''Anthodiscus pilosus'' is added to some versions of the hallucino ...

''", which also means "hairy". Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate, equated these figures with satyrs. The ''se'irim'' are also mentioned once in probably a recalling of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

n demons in shape of goats.

Samuel Bochart Samuel Bochart (30 May 1599 – 16 May 1667) was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet. His two-volume '' Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan'' (Caen 1646) exerted a profound in ...

and other

Biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 For ...

identified the Se'irim with Egyptian goat-deities. admonishes Israel to keep from sacrificing to the Se'irim. Texts from the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...

describe the nether regions as full of Se'irim. Abraham ibn Ezra (1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 28 January 1167) writes in his commentary, that the ''se'irim'' are a form of spirits (''shedim'') seen by crazy people. People stray away from God by believing in them, for seeking them out, implies a belief in another force besides God who can make things go good or bad. It is not clear from ibn Ezra, if he considers ''se'irim'' to be merely delusions, or real but can only be seen by crazy people (in the form of he-goats) who falsely attribute power independent from God to them.Slifkin, Natan. "A History of Rabbinic Attitudes to Demons." (2011). p. 10

References

Demons in Judaism Jinn {{legendary-creature-stub