who was lilith in the bible

Lilith is not directly mentioned as a person in the Bible but is referenced by the Hebrew word "lilit" in Isaiah 34:14, likely referring to a night creature or demon. In Jewish mythology and folklore, Lilith is theorized to be Adam's first wife, created from the earth like Adam. According to these stories, Lilith refused to be subservient to Adam, asserting equality, and fled the Garden of Eden after pronouncing the ineffable name of God. God sent three angels to bring her back, but she refused and was said to become a demoness who harms newborn children. These tales do not appear in the biblical text itself but emerge from later Jewish mystical, rabbinic, and folkloric traditions such as the Babylonian Talmud, the Zohar, and midrashic literature. Lilith represents chaos, seduction, and ungodliness in these stories, and her myth functions symbolically within Jewish mysticism and folklore. She is depicted as both a child-killer and also remarkably fertile, with a balance of evil and divine connection maintained through mythic agreements. Her figure is absent from canonical scripture and is largely a post-biblical mythological development rooted in Mesopotamian and Jewish traditions.