Shedim

thumb|The sheyd Asmodeus|Ashmodai () in birdlike form, with typical rooster feet, as depicted in Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae, 1775 thumb|Child sacrifice to the sheyd Molekh (), showing the typical depiction of the Ammonite deity Moloch of the [[Old Testament in medieval and modern sources (illustration by Charles Foster for Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us, 1897)]]

Shedim (; singular: šēḏ) are spirits or demons in the Tanakh and Jewish mythology. Shedim do not, however, correspond exactly to the modern conception of demons as evil entities as originated in Christianity. While evil spirits were thought to cause maladies, shedim differed conceptually from evil spirits. Shedim were not considered evil demigods, but the gods of foreigners; further, they were envisaged as evil only in the sense that they were not the Hebrew god.