Christian Pure

Why Is Lucifer Called the Morning Star? Isaiah 14:12 and the Latin Name for Venus

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • “Lucifer” is the Latin word for the morning star, the planet Venus seen before sunrise; it means “light-bringing.”
  • Jerome’s Latin Vulgate used it in Isaiah 14:12 for the Hebrew helel ben shachar, “shining one, son of the dawn,” a taunt against the king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:4), and the King James Version kept the Latin word.
  • Tertullian and Origen applied the passage to the devil, reading it with Luke 10:18; Calvin rejected that reading, and the Catholic NABRE notes both the king and the Fathers’ use.
  • Jesus calls himself “the bright and morning star” in Revelation 22:16, and the Vulgate uses lucifer for the “day star” of 2 Peter 1:19; the Easter Exsultet calls Christ the morning star “which never sets.”
  • Modern translations render Isaiah 14:12 as “morning star” (NIV) or “Day Star” (ESV); Spanish has “Lucero,” German “Morgenstern,” Russian “денница.”
  • “Morningstar” as Lucifer’s surname comes from DC Comics (The Sandman #4, 1989) and the TV series Lucifer (2016–2021), not the Bible.

Lucifer is called the morning star because lucifer is the Latin name for the morning star, the planet Venus seen before sunrise. The Latin Bible used it in Isaiah 14:12 for the Hebrew helel ben shachar, “shining one, son of the dawn,” a taunt against the king of Babylon. Christians later read the verse as Satan’s fall. What does Isaiah 14:12 say? In the King James Version the verse reads: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Job 38:7; Psalm 110:3; Isaiah 14:4, 12–15; Luke 10:18; 2 Peter 1:19; Revelation 2:28; 22:16). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
  • Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Isaiah 14:12; Psalm 109:3 (110:3); 2 Peter 1:19; Revelation 22:16. BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+14%3A12%3BPsalm+109%3A3%3B2+Peter+1%3A19%3BRevelation+22%3A16&version=VULGATE
  • Isaiah 14:12 and Revelation 22:16 in the New King James Version, New American Standard Bible (1995), New International Version, English Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition and New American Bible Revised Edition (with notes). BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+14%3A12&version=NKJV;NASB1995;NIV;ESV;NABRE
  • Isaiah 14:12 and Revelation 22:16 in Reina-Valera 1960, Luther 1545, Louis Segond, the Russian Synodal Version and the Japanese Living Bible. BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+14%3A12%3BRevelation+22%3A16&version=RVR1960;LUTH1545;LSG;RUSV
  • Isaiah 14:12, Japanese Colloquial Bible (口語訳, 1955). YouVersion. https://www.bible.com/ja/bible/1820/ISA.14.12-15.%E5%8F%A3%E8%AA%9E%E8%A8%B3
  • Revelation 2:28; 22:16; 2 Peter 1:19 in the SBL Greek New Testament and the Textus Receptus (1550). BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+22%3A16%3BRevelation+2%3A28%3B2+Peter+1%3A19&version=SBLGNT;TR1550
  • Brenton, Lancelot C. L., trans. The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, Isaiah 14:12, English and Greek. eBible.org. https://ebible.org/eng-Brenton/ISA14.htm ; https://ebible.org/grcbrent/ISA14.htm
  • Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon and Strong’s Concordance: H1966 helel, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1966/kjv/wlc/0-1/; H7837 shachar, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7837/kjv/wlc/0-1/; G5459 phosphoros, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5459/kjv/tr/0-1/
  • Lewis, Charlton T., and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879. “lucifer” (citing Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.20.53). Perseus Digital Library. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=lucifer
  • “Lucifer (n.).” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/Lucifer
  • “Morning star.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morning%20star
  • NASA Science. “Venus: Facts.” https://science.nasa.gov/venus/venus-facts/
  • Tertullian. Against Marcion, Book 5, chapters 9, 11 and 17. Translated by Peter Holmes. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm
  • Origen. De Principiis (On First Principles), Book 1, chapter 5. Translated by Frederick Crombie. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04121.htm
  • Calvin, John. Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1, on Isaiah 14:12. Calvin Translation Society. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. https://www.ccel.org/study/Isaiah_14:12
  • Exsultet (Easter Proclamation), Latin text of the Roman Missal (1962 and 1975), with the 1934 English translation of Abbot Cabrol. Preces Latinae. https://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Hymni/Exsultet.html
  • “明けの明星,” “денница” and “lucero.” Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%98%8E%E3%81%91%E3%81%AE%E6%98%8E%E6%98%9F ; https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0 ; https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lucero
  • “Lucifer (DC Comics)” and “Lucifer (TV series).” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_(DC_Comics) ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_(TV_series)

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