Translation choice · documented · Divine Council
What the source reads — shedim — 'gods they had not known', foreign divine beings the verse itself calls elohim (gods); spirits, not necessarily evil ones
What this version reads — 'devils' (KJV) / 'demons' — from the Septuagint's daimonia on, the foreign gods are rendered demons: the rival side's gods recast as the enemy's spirits
The Song of Moses says Israel 'sacrificed to shedim, not to God — to elohim (gods) they had not known.' The Hebrew calls them gods. The Septuagint rendered shedim as daimonia, the Vulgate as daemoniis, the KJV as 'devils' — and so the foreign gods became demons. It is a familiar pattern across the history of religion: as one faith takes hold, the older or rival gods are often remembered as evil spirits rather than as gods. Baal, Azazel, the se'irim, the shedim — an older company recast as the adversary.
Read this chapter side by side — Deuteronomy 32:17 →