WHAT DOES ISAIAH 14:12 TEACH ABOUT SATAN?
Updated - 10/6/09
We
read in Isaiah 14:12:
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!
We
wonder what does the name “O Lucifer” mean?
The
Bible commentaries and dictionaries give various answers for what this name
means. However, the Bible defines it own terms and we want to search the Bible
for the definition of this term, “O Lucifer”
In
order to do this, we will have to examine the four letter Hebrew word that is
translated “O Lucifer”.
To
download the Hebrew font used in this study, right click the link below. Select
‘Save Target as’, then use the Control Panel in Windows to install the font.
Let
us look at the English and Hebrew text for Isaiah 14:12:
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!
Mywg-le slwx Ural tedgn rxs-Nb llyh
Mymsm tlpn Kya 12
The
phrase “O Lucifer” is the Hebrew word “llyh”.
For
reference the Hebrew language is written from right to left which is the
opposite of English which is written from left to right.
The
concordances gives the following information about this Hebrew word:
(01966 llyh heylel hay-lale’ from 01984 (in the sense of
brightness) AV-Lucifer 1; 1 Lucifer =" light-bearer" )
The
concordances say that this word is related to the Hebrew word with Strong’s
number 01984. That word is:
(01984 llh halal haw-lal’; a primitive root,
Greek 239 allhlouia; TWOT-499,500; v
AV-praise 117, glory 14, boast 10, mad 8, shine 3, foolish 3, fools 2,
commended 2, rage 2, celebrate 1, give 1, marriage 1, renowned 1; 165)
These
two words are similar, but are not exactly the same.
Let’s
compare them side by side:
01966
llyh 01984 llh
Notice
that the Hebrew word translated “O Lucifer” has an extra letter. It is a
“ y ”.
This letter is called “yodh”.
These
two words look similar but they are not the same word.
We
must remember that every word and every letter of every word in the original
Bible text was put there by God. The letter “yodh” or “ y ” was
put in by God.
Also,
there is no Hebrew grammar pattern or rule in which a “yodh” is added to
a word as the second character. (Remember Hebrew is written from right to
left.)
There
is no Hebrew rule of grammar nor any pattern found in the Hebrew Bible that says
that a “yodh” or “ y ”
can be added as a second letter in a word and that word will still be part of
the same family of words.
If
we follow the rules of the Hebrew language, these two words are not the same
nor are they of the same family.
Then,
we must ask the next question: Why do the concordances say that this word “llyh”
is part of the family of this word “llh”?
To
answer this question, we will examine this Hebrew letter “yodh” along
with another letter in the Hebrew alphabet that looks similar. The two letters
are:
yodh: y
vahv: w
These
letters are both fairly small and look somewhat similar.
It
appears that if you were writing the Hebrew letter “yodh” and your hand
slipped you might accidentally write the Hebrew letter “vahv”. On the
other hand, if you were writing the Hebrew letter “vahv” and you didn’t
write a long enough tail, it might appear that you wrote the letter “yodh”.
Also,
because these letters are small, it seems that maybe they could be added to a
word or dropped from a word by accident during the copying of one manuscript to
another manuscript.
When
we understand that God wrote the Bible and was in charge of it’s copying we
know that the above-mentioned errors did not occur during the process of
copying the manuscripts.
When
we understand that God wrote the Bible, including every word and every letter
of every word, then we realize that there are no mistakes in the Bible. We also
realize that God was in charge of the copying of the manuscripts. There were no
scribal errors. The Bible is God’s word and He made sure that the Hebrew and
Greek texts were accurately copied throughout the centuries.
Therefore
when we examine the old Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that were used for the
King James translation, we know that these manuscripts have been protected by
God and that they are trustworthy.
The
above statement is true. However, many theologians do not believe it. Many
theologians have written books in which they talk about “scribal errors”. They
believe that there are some errors in our Greek and Hebrew Bible due to scribal
copying errors. Specifically, theologians often think there were scribal
copying errors associated with the Hebrew letters, “yodh” and “vahv”.
In
the Old Testament, many theologians believe that there were copying errors
related to the Hebrew letters “yodh” and “vahv”. This thinking by the
theologians has impacted the concordances.
The
Strong’s concordance is a fine tool for Bible study. However, the preparers of
this concordance were influenced by the thinking of the theologians. Many of
these theologians hold to the idea that the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible
have errors in them. They believe that there were errors associated with the
Hebrew letters “yodh” and “vahv”.
As
a result, the preparers of the concordances were not always careful to consider
the Hebrew letters “yodh” and “vahv” as important letters in a
word. At times, Hebrew words that differed by only a “yodh” or a “vahv”
would be grouped under one Strong’s number. This gives the Bible student the
impression that he was looking at one Hebrew word, when in actuality, he was
looking at two different Hebrew words that differed by a “yodh” or a “vahv”.
In
the case of the Hebrew word translated “O Lucifer”, the preparers of the
concordances put a note that this Hebrew word is related to the Hebrew word “halal”
when there is no Biblical justification to support that note.
Perhaps,
the preparers of the concordances could not understand what to do with this
Hebrew word “llyh”. Perhaps they thought that the “yodh” or “ y ” was
the result of a scribal error and they said that the word was a derivative of
the Hebrew word “llh”. However, there is no Biblical validation for making
this connection.
There
is no Biblical validation for saying that the Hebrew word “llyh”
is related to the word “llh”. Perhaps, this statement comes from a lack of trust
in God’s protection of His word.
Now,
we ask another question:
Then,
how do we determine the Biblical definition of the four letter Hebrew word
translated “O Lucifer” in Isaiah 14:12?
We
determine the Biblical definition of it by looking for the same four letter
word elsewhere in the Bible.
It
turns out that this same four letter Hebrew word is also used in Zechariah
11:2. Let’s compare Isaiah 14:12 and Zechariah 11:2:
Mywg-le slwx Ural
tedgn rxs-Nb llyh Mymsm tlpn
Kya Isaiah 14:12
Isaiah 14:12 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!
rwubh rey dry yk
Nsb ynwla wlylyh wdds Myrda rsa zra lpn-yk swrb llyh
Zechariah 11:2
Zechariah 11:2 Howl,
fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye
oaks of
God
has put the same four letter word in Zechariah 11:2. Notice that the spelling
is exactly the same.
If
we can find the exact same word with the exact same spelling in another verse
in the Bible, then we have a definition for a word from God Himself.
In
Zechariah 11:2, this word is translated “Howl”,
which means to cry out.
This
is the “Hiphil” conjugation of the verb:
(03213
lly yalal yaw-lal’ AV-howl 29, howlings 1, variant 1; 31 )
The
“Hiphil” conjugation adds a “h” at the front of the verb. It is a common verb conjugation found in
the Hebrew Bible. It adds extra force to the verb.
The
important point is that Zechariah 11:2 and Isaiah 14:12 have the same exact
spelling of this four letter word. Therefore, God is telling us how to
understand the phrase “O Lucifer” in Isaiah
14:12.
This
Hebrew word in Isaiah 14:12 does not mean “O Lucifer” nor does it mean
“praise” or “boast” as indicated by the concordances. Rather it means to “howl”.
This
four letter word is also found in two more verses:
Urah bswy lk llyhw Mdah wqezw hb ybsyw
rye hawlmw Ura wpjsyw Pjws lxnl wyhw Nwpum Myle Mym-hnh hwhy rma hk Jeremiah 47:2
Jeremiah 47:2 Thus saith
the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing
flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them
that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land
shall howl.
Kry-la qpo Nkl
yme-ta wyh brx-la yrwgm larvy yayvn-lkb ayh ymeb htyh ayh-yk Mda-Nb llyhw qez <21:17> Ezekiel 21:12
Ezekiel 21:12 Cry and howl,
son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the
princes of
We
see the extra letter, “ w ” at the
front of this Hebrew word in these two verses. In the front of a word, this
letter, “ w ” is a conjunction and mostly
it is translated as “and” or “but”. This fact is well supported
in the Hebrew Bible and is not disputed. Sometimes the translators do not
translate it.
We
actually see three verses with this same four letter Hebrew word translated “O Lucifer” in Isaiah 14:12. This word actually
means to “howl”.
By
following the Biblical rule of 1 Corinthians 2:13 to compare Scripture with
Scripture, we can find a Biblical definition of the Hebrew word translated “O Lucifer” in Isaiah 14:12. This Hebrew word
actually means to “howl” as in to cry out.
To
help us understand the rest of Isaiah 14:12, we will consider the fact that the
Hebrew word translated “morning” is occasionally translated “black”.
We
see this same Hebrew word that is translated “morning” in Isaiah 14:12
in the following verses translated as “black”:
Leviticus 13:31 And if the priest look on the plague of the
scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that
there is no black <07838> hair in it; then the
priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days:
Leviticus 13:37 But if the scall be in his sight at a stay,
and that there is black <07838> hair grown up
therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall
pronounce him clean.
Job 30:30
My skin is black <07835> upon me, and my
bones are burned with heat.
In Job 30:30, Job is a picture of the Lord
Jesus under the wrath of God. He was under the “blackness of darkness”, being
without the Gospel. The word “black” identifies with “darkness”, which is being
without the Gospel.
Song of Solomon 1:5 I am black <07838>, but comely, O ye
daughters of
Song of Solomon 5:11 His head is as the most fine gold, his
locks are bushy, and black <07838> as a raven.
A raven is “black”.
Zechariah 6:2
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot
black <07838> horses;
Zechariah 6:6
The black <07838> horses which are therein go
forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the
grisled go forth toward the south country.
So,
we see several verses in which this Hebrew word translated “morning” in
Isaiah 14:12 can be translated as “black”. If we try the word “black” in
Isaiah 14:12 and put in the proper definition of the Hebrew word “llyh”,
we obtain:
How art thou fallen from heaven, Howl, son of the
black! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations!
In
Isaiah 14:12, God is telling the devil to “howl” because he is under the
wrath of God. He is the “son of the black” because he is the opposite of
the Lord Jesus that is the “light of the world”.
Now,
we have a translation that is based upon how the Bible itself defines words.
When
we follow the Biblical rule of comparing Scripture with Scripture, we learn
that the Hebrew word translated “O Lucifer” should have been translated “howl”
as in to cry out. Also, Satan is the “son of the black” because he is in the
darkness of sin. This translation fits the context.
We
find that Isaiah 14:12 is best translated:
How art thou fallen from heaven, Howl, son of the
black! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!