Editing Lilith (section)

=== Dead Sea Scrolls ===
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain one indisputable reference to Lilith in ''Songs of the Sage'' (4Q510–511)<ref>Davis, Michael T.; Strawn, Brent A. (2007) ''Qumran studies: new approaches, new questions''. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. {{ISBN|9780802860804}}. p. 47: "two manuscripts that date to the Herodian period, with 4Q510 slightly earlier".</ref> fragment 1:

<blockquote>And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendour so as to frighten and to te[rrify] all the spirits of the destroying angels; spirits of the [[Legitimacy (family law)|bastard]]s, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers] ... and those which fall upon men, without warning, to lead them astray from a spirit of understanding, and to make their heart and their minds desolate during the present dominion of wickedness and predetermined time of humiliations for the Sons of Lig[ht], by the guilt of the ages of [those] smitten by iniquity – not for eternal destruction, [bu]t for an era of humiliation for transgression.<ref>Chilton, Bruce; Bock, Darrell and Gurtner, Daniel M. (2010) ''A Comparative Handbook to the Gospel of Mark''. Brill. p. 84. {{ISBN|9789004179738}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Great Isaiah Scroll.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Photographic reproduction of the [[Great Isaiah Scroll]], which contains a reference to plural ''liliyyot'']]

As with the Massoretic text of Isaiah 34:14, and therefore unlike the plural ''liliyyot'' (or ''liliyyoth'') in the Isaiah scroll 34:14, ''lilit'' in 4Q510 is singular, this liturgical text both cautions against the presence of supernatural malevolence and assumes familiarity with Lilith; distinct from the biblical text, however, this passage does not function under any socio-political agenda, but instead serves in the same capacity as An Exorcism (4Q560) and Songs to Disperse Demons (11Q11).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lilith|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/lilith/|date=31 October 2019|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|language=en|access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref> The text is thus, to a community "deeply involved in the realm of demonology",<ref name=b/> an exorcism hymn.

Joseph M. Baumgarten (1991) identified the unnamed woman of ''The Seductress'' (4Q184) as related to the female demon.<ref name=b>{{cite journal|author=Baumgarten, J. M. |title=On the Nature of the Seductress in 4Q184|journal=Revue de Qumran|volume= 15 |year=1991|issue=1/2 (57/58) |jstor=24608925|pages= 133–143}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Baumgarten, J. M. |title=The seductress of Qumran|journal=Bible Review|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/17/5/8|volume= 17 |issue=5 |year=2001|pages=21–23; 42}}</ref> However, John J. Collins<ref>Collins, J. J. (1997) ''Jewish wisdom in the Hellenistic age''. Westminster John Knox Press. {{ISBN|9780664221096}}</ref> regards this identification as "intriguing" but that it is "safe to say" that (4Q184) is based on the strange woman of Proverbs 2, 5, 7, 9:
{{poemquote|Her house sinks down to death,
And her course leads to the shades.
All who go to her cannot return
And find again the paths of life.|Proverbs 2:18–19}}

{{poemquote|Her gates are gates of death, and from the entrance of the house
She sets out towards Sheol.
None of those who enter there will ever return,
And all who possess her will descend to the Pit.|4Q184}}