They appear only twice (always plural) in the Tanakh, at Psalm 106:37 and Deuteronomy 32:17 both times, it deals with child or animal sacrifices.[6] Although the word is traditionally derived from the root ŠWD (Hebrew: שוד‎ shûd) that conveys the meaning of "acting with violence" or "laying waste"[7] it was possibly a loan-word from Akkadian in which the word shedu referred to a protective, benevolent spirit.[8] The word may also derive from the "Sedim, Assyrian guard spirits"[9] as referenced according to lore "Azazel slept with Naamah and spawned Assyrian guard spirits known as sedim".[10] With the translation of Hebew texts into Greek, under influence of Zorastrian dualism, shedim were translated into daimonia with implicit negativity. Otherwise, later in Judeo-Islamic culture, shedim became the Hebrew word for Jinn with a morally ambivalent attitude

When Cyrus had made all the mainland submit to him, he attacked the Assyrians.