Overview#

Asmodeus is a named demonic figure in the book of Tobit and in later religious and magical writings. In Tobit 3, he is connected with the deaths of Sarah’s successive husbands and with her distress. The passage places him inside a story about suffering and a petition for deliverance.[1]

Asmoday and Asmodée are forms encountered in other languages or catalogues. Similar spelling can indicate reception of a shared name, but a reader should still compare the roles and narrative settings rather than assume that all entries reproduce the same description.

Tobit and its setting#

Tobit presents Sarah’s trouble alongside Tobit’s own grief. Asmodeus is part of the narrative explanation for her repeated losses. This is a religious story with characters, prayer, and resolution; it is not a standalone encyclopedic list of infernal ranks.[1]

The book’s canonical status differs among religious communities. When citing it, an article should name both the work and the translation. Describing a passage as simply “biblical” can otherwise conceal why one reader knows it well while another does not encounter it in their Bible.

Demonological reception#

Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire infernal presents Asmodée through a compilation of later traditions and a distinctive multi-part bodily image. The entry is valuable evidence for nineteenth-century reception. It should not be used as proof that its entire picture already belonged to Tobit.[2]

The Ars Goetia lists a spirit under the form Asmoday, while the Testament of Solomon supplies another narrative treatment. These texts organize named spirits for different purposes: a ceremonial catalogue in one case, a story of interrogations and subjugation in the other.[3][4]

The comparison shows why a spirit’s “official description” is an inadequate historical category. Descriptions have authors, manuscripts, languages, and editions. Later artists also influence which appearance becomes familiar.

Contemporary interpretation#

A present-day practitioner may understand Asmodeus devotionally, psychologically, or through a particular magical system. An article should identify that system and give its own source for additional offices, offerings, or correspondences. Such details cannot be recovered from a brief mention of the name alone.

Claims about a spirit’s powers remain claims of the relevant text or tradition. Historical evidence can establish that people wrote, circulated, or practiced with a description. It does not by itself demonstrate the supernatural effectiveness of the description. Clear attribution makes the article useful across differing religious commitments.

See also#

References

  1. Tobit 3, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition · Primary narrative naming Asmodeus in the story of Sarah. Canonical status differs among religious traditions. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  2. Jacques Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire infernal, 6th ed. (1863), Asmodée · Nineteenth-century compilation and iconography of Asmodeus. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  3. Lemegeton, Part 1: Goetia, transcribed by Joseph H. Peterson · Primary grimoire text with manuscript variants. Spirit descriptions are claims made by the text. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
  4. The Testament of Solomon, F. C. Conybeare translation (1898) · Primary pseudepigraphal narrative, not an eyewitness account of the historical Solomon. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
Asmodeusspirits

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.