Translation choice · documented · Divine Council
What the source reads — Lilith — a named night-spirit of the desert ruins — beside the se'irim, the hairy goat-demons; the Hebrew names particular beings
What this version reads — each version sets a different creature in her place: the Septuagint 'demons' and 'onocentaurs', the Vulgate 'Lamia' (a Greek she-demon), the KJV a 'screech owl', the moderns a 'night creature'
Isaiah's ruined Edom is left to named spirits — Lilith (later the night-hag of legend) and the se'irim, goat-demons. No two versions render her alike: the Septuagint reads 'demons' and 'onocentaurs', the Vulgate names 'Lamia' (a Greek child-stealing she-demon), the KJV a 'screech owl', the moderns a 'night creature'. What they share is not leaving Lilith standing as herself — the demoness becomes a bird, a beast, or a different demon. A clear case of substitution: where a translator didn't recognize the spirit, another was set in her place.
Read this chapter side by side — Isaiah 34:14 →