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Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 14:12–15

"O Lucifer, son of the morning": helel ben shachar

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" The Hebrew helel ben shachar, "shining one, son of dawn," became Greek heōsphoros and Latin lucifer, both ordinary names of the morning star; the KJV kept the Latin as a name. The verse addresses the king of Babylon (v. 4). Jesus' words against Capernaum (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15) echo vv. 13–15; the reading of the verse as Satan's fall came later.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Uncertain connection
Hebrew
  1. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. Matthew 11:23 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)
  2. Luke 10:15 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 14:12–15. The same words as the Masoretic Text, helel ben shachar, with helel spelled with an extra yod; "nations" in v. 12 is singular. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Matthew 11:23 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    Καὶ σύ, Καφαρναούμ, μὴ ἕως οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσῃ; ἕως ἍΙδου καταβήσῃ. Ὅτι εἰ ἐν Σοδόμοις ἐγενήθησαν αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ γενόμεναι ἐν σοί, ἔμεινεν ἂν μέχρι τῆς σήμερον.

    And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades

    Matthew's report of Jesus' words; echoes Isaiah 14:13, 15. Words attributed to Jesus. KJV: "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."

  4. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Luke 10:15 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    Καὶ σύ, Καφαρναούμ, μὴ ἕως οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσῃ; Ἕως ἍΙδου καταβήσῃ.

    And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades

    Luke's report of Jesus' words; Luke 10:18 (Satan falling like lightning) follows but does not cite Isaiah. Words attributed to Jesus. KJV: "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell."

  5. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Quomodo cecidisti de cælo, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris? corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes? Qui dicebas in corde tuo: In cælum conscendam, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum; sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis; ascendam super altitudinem nubium, similis ero Altissimo? Verumtamen ad infernum detraheris, in profundum laci.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 14:12–15. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400). Lucifer is the ordinary Latin word for the morning star.

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    אֵ֛יךְ נָפַ֥לְתָּ מִשָּׁמַ֖יִם הֵילֵ֣ל בֶּן־שָׁ֑חַר נִגְדַּ֣עְתָּ לָאָ֔רֶץ חוֹלֵ֖שׁ עַל־גּוֹיִֽם׃ וְאַתָּ֞ה אָמַ֤רְתָּ בִֽלְבָבְךָ֙ הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם אֶֽעֱלֶ֔ה מִמַּ֥עַל לְכֽוֹכְבֵי־אֵ֖ל אָרִ֣ים כִּסְאִ֑י וְאֵשֵׁ֥ב בְּהַר־מוֹעֵ֖ד בְּיַרְכְּתֵ֥י צָפֽוֹן׃ אֶעֱלֶ֖ה עַל־בָּ֣מֳתֵי עָ֑ב אֶדַּמֶּ֖ה לְעֶלְיֽוֹן׃ אַ֧ךְ אֶל־שְׁא֛וֹל תּוּרָ֖ד אֶל־יַרְכְּתֵי־בֽוֹר׃

    How you have fallen from heaven, shining one (helel), son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low (v. 12)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 14:12–15.

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    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.

  8. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Comment est tombée des cieux l’étoile du matin qui se levait dès l’aurore? Comment a été brisé contre terre celui qui commandait à toutes les nations? Tu disais dans ton cœur: Je monterai au ciel; je placerai mon trône au- dessus des astres; je m’assoirai sur une haute montagne, sur ces hautes montagnes qui s’étendent vers l’aquilon. Je monterai au-dessus des nuages; je serai semblable au Très-Haut. Et maintenant tu es descendu en enfer, et jusqu’aux fondements de la terre.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 14:12–15. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: translation history (Hebrew → Greek → Latin → English) plus later interpretation; the scroll differs only in spelling (היליל, היכה, נפלתה).

"The mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north" (v. 13) is the gods' mountain, Tsaphon in Ugaritic texts; "like the most High (Elyon)" (v. 14).

Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15 (each Gospel's report of Jesus' words) reuse "exalted to heaven… brought down to Hades" for Capernaum; neither names Isaiah or Satan.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Hebrew reads helel ben shachar.
  • Independently documented"Lucifer" is the Vulgate's Latin.
  • DisputedThe verse names Satan. A later Christian reading; the context is the king of Babylon.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 14: How Art Thou Fallen →God will have compassion on Jacob and bring foreigners to join Israel (14:1–2). Then a taunt song (mashal) over the king of Babylon: the earth rests, the cedars rejoice, Sheol rises to greet the fallen tyrant, "the worm is spread under thee" (vv. 3–11). "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (helel), son of the morning!" He meant to ascend above the stars to the mount of assembly and be like the Most High, but is brought down to the pit, an unburied corpse (vv. 12–21); Babylon is swept away (vv. 22–23). Two short oracles follow: God will break Assyria in his land (vv. 24–27), and Philistia must not rejoice in the year Ahaz died (vv. 28–32).
    • Investigation: The Fallen Morning Star →"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (KJV). The Hebrew says helel ben shachar, "shining one, son of dawn," in a taunt over the king of Babylon. Latin lucifer, "light-bearer," was the ordinary word for the morning star; Christian readers came to take the verse as Satan's fall, and the Latin word became a proper name. This investigation follows the words from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English, and the interpretation from a king's funeral satire to a cosmic rebellion.
    • Investigation: Jesus and Isaiah →Isaiah is quoted in the Gospels more than any other prophet. This study registers 55 uses that involve Jesus: 20 in Matthew, 14 in Mark, 12 in Luke and 9 in John. For each it records who speaks (Jesus as the Gospel reports him, the narrator, John the Baptist, a heavenly voice, Simeon, or a later scribe), the Isaiah passage and its original setting, the Gospel's Greek wording, whether the use is an explicit quotation, a quotation without formula, an allusion, a proposed allusion, or a later Christian connection, and how that Gospel uses it. Each Gospel is kept separate.