Isaiah 14: How Art Thou Fallen
Israel's return, a taunt over the tyrant in Sheol, the morning star, and oracles on Assyria and Philistia
"For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them" (14:1). "Thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased!… The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us" (vv. 4–8).
"Hell (Sheol) from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead (rephaim) for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth… All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we?… the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee" (vv. 9–11).
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit" (vv. 12–15).
"Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?… But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch… Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial" (vv. 16–20). "The Lord of hosts hath sworn… That I will break the Assyrian in my land" (vv. 24–25). "In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice" (vv. 28–29).
| Verses | What it says | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| 14:1–2 | God will choose Israel again; foreigners join them; captors become captives | Return from exile; the reversal motif. |
| 14:3–4a | When God gives rest, take up this mashal (taunt) against the king of Babylon | A satirical lament (qinah rhythm). |
| 14:4b–8 | The oppressor has ceased; the earth rests; cedars of Lebanon rejoice | Mesopotamian kings boasted of cutting Lebanon's cedars. |
| 14:9–11 | Sheol stirs the rephaim (shades) and dead kings to greet him: you are weak like us | A picture of the underworld; the dead kings on thrones. |
| 14:12–15 | Helel ben shachar fallen from heaven; he wanted to ascend above God's stars to the mount of assembly in the far north; brought down to the pit | Language from Canaanite myth. See "The Fallen Morning Star." |
| 14:16–21 | Onlookers stare: is this the man who shook kingdoms? Cast out of his grave, unburied; his sons slaughtered | Denial of burial: the worst disgrace in the ancient world. |
| 14:22–23 | Babylon's name and offspring cut off; swept with the broom of destruction | Babylon itself, not only its king. |
| 14:24–27 | God's oath: Assyria broken in my land; my hand stretched out over all nations | Fits Isaiah's 701 BC message (compare 10:24–27; 37:36). |
| 14:28–32 | Year Ahaz died: Philistia, do not rejoice that the rod is broken; a viper, a flying seraph will come; Zion founded for the poor | Flying seraph (saraph me'ofef): see 6:2 and 30:6. |
Which king of Babylon?
The poem names no king. Proposals include Nebuchadnezzar II, Nabonidus or Belshazzar (6th century), or an Assyrian king who ruled Babylon. Sargon II, who took the title king of Babylon in 710 BC, died in battle in 705 BC and his body was not recovered for burial, a fate Assyrian texts treat as a disaster; some scholars (H. L. Ginsberg and others) think vv. 4b–21 were first a taunt over Sargon, later applied to Babylon. Sennacherib, who destroyed Babylon in 689, was murdered by his sons. None of these identifications is proven; the poem may be a type rather than a portrait.
The mount of assembly in the far north
"The mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north (yarkete tsafon)": in the Ugaritic texts, Mount Tsaphon (Jebel Aqra, on the Syrian coast) is the mountain of Baal, where the gods meet. Psalm 48:2 applies the same phrase to Zion. The tyrant's ambition is to sit among the gods on their mountain and be "like the Most High (Elyon)." In the Ugaritic Baal cycle, the god Athtar is made king on Baal's throne but is too small: his feet do not reach the footstool, so he comes down to rule the earth (KTU 1.6 I). Many scholars compare that scene; no surviving text supplies the whole story behind Isaiah 14.
Helel ben shachar and "Lucifer"
Helel probably means "shining one" (from halal, "to shine"); ben shachar, "son of dawn." Shachar (Dawn) is a god at Ugarit. Most identify helel with the morning star, the planet Venus, which rises brightly before dawn and fades as the sun climbs. The Greek translates heōsphoros, "dawn-bringer" (Giguet: "l'étoile du matin qui se levait dès l'aurore"); the Latin Vulgate, lucifer, "light-bearer," the ordinary Latin name of the morning star. The KJV kept the Latin word as a name: "O Lucifer." The Hebrew does not use a proper name for Satan. The Great Isaiah Scroll spells the word with an extra yod (described from a transcription). See "The Fallen Morning Star" for how the verse came to be read of Satan.
The golden city or the oppression? (14:4)
The Masoretic Text reads madhebah, a word otherwise unknown; the KJV guessed "the golden city" (from Aramaic dehab, gold). The Great Isaiah Scroll reads marhebah, "raging, oppression" (one letter, ד/ר, which look alike in Hebrew script), and the Greek appears to have read something similar ("the exactor"). Many modern translations follow the scroll ("How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!"). The Cave 4 copy 4Q57 is broken at this word. A clear case where a Qumran reading resolves an obscure Masoretic word.
Jesus and the fall from heaven
Jesus' words against Capernaum, "thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell (Hades)" (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15, each Gospel's report), echo 14:13–15. In Luke 10:18 Jesus says, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven"; Luke does not cite Isaiah, and the link to 14:12 was made by later interpreters.
A taunt song to be sung by Israel over a fallen Babylonian (or Assyrian) king: the tyrant who aspired to divine status lies unburied among the dead. The oracle on Philistia is dated to the year Ahaz died (c. 727 or 715 BC; the chronology of Judah's kings is debated); the broken rod may be Tiglath-pileser III (died 727) or another Assyrian king.
Jewish tradition read the taunt of Nebuchadnezzar and his line (e.g., the Talmud, Pesachim 94a–b), as a model of human arrogance before God. The Targum applies 14:12–15 to the king of Babylon.
No New Testament book quotes 14:12. Jesus' saying on Capernaum echoes 14:13–15 (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15). Revelation's falling star (9:1) and the dragon cast down (12:7–9) use related imagery without citing Isaiah. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus calls himself "the bright and morning star," and 2 Peter 1:19 speaks of "the day star" (phōsphoros, Latin lucifer) rising in hearts.
From Origen and Tertullian (3rd century) onward, many Christians read 14:12–15 (with Ezekiel 28:12–19 and Luke 10:18) as the fall of Satan before creation; Milton's Paradise Lost made Lucifer a household name. Luther and Calvin insisted that the passage speaks of the king of Babylon. Most modern commentators, Jewish and Christian, read it of the human king in its context, while some Christian interpreters see a typological reference to Satan behind him.
What the evidence shows
- The Hebrew of 14:12 reads helel ben shachar, "shining one, son of dawn."
- "Lucifer" is the Latin Vulgate's rendering of the morning star, kept by the KJV.
- Isaiah 14:12 is about Satan. The context names the king of Babylon; the Satan reading arose in early Christian interpretation.Source: K. Kremser, "Helel ben Shahar – Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12)," Protokolle zur Bibel 30 (2021)
- The Great Isaiah Scroll reads marhebah ("oppression") in 14:4. Transcription; image check open.
- The taunt was first composed about Sargon II. A scholarly proposal based on Sargon's unburied death in 705 BC.
Continue the journey
Journey of a PassageIsaiah 14:4–6: "The golden city" or "the oppression"?"How hath the oppressor ceased!More from this lesson
Echoes Across Civilizations
Optional: how other ancient peoples told similar stories. Open one to compare, then come back to the lesson.
The assembly of heavenUgaritic · Babylonian
Did other peoples imagine a council of gods around a supreme god?
- Ugaritic: The assembly of El Shared literary world
- Babylonian: The assembly of the gods in Enuma Elish and Atrahasis Shared literary world
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The king of Tyre in Eden, cast down: the other text read of Satan's fall.
- Psalm 48:2; 82:6–7Zion in the far north; the gods who die like men.
- Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15, 18Capernaum brought down to Hades; Satan falling like lightning.
- Revelation 22:16; 2 Peter 1:19The morning star applied to Christ.