I. Name

The Midday Demon is found in the Septuagint version of Ps. 91.6 (LXX Ps. 90.6). In Ps. 91.5–6, the Hebrew psalmist declares that the one who takes refuge in the Almighty will not fear: “The Terror of the night nor the Arrow that flies by day, nor the Pestilence (Deber) that stalks in darkness nor the Destruction (Qeṭeb) that wastes at noonday”.

The parallelism of the verses twice balances a night and a daytime Evil, each of which was understood by rabbinic interpreters to refer to a demonic spirit: the day-time Q…