Lucifer
The KJV keeps the name the Latin and English Bibles had always given the shining one who fell from heaven.
Modern versions: “Day Star” (ESV, RSV), “morning star” (NIV)
Hêlēl, found only in Isaiah 14:12, comes from a root meaning “to shine” (Strong’s: “in the sense of brightness; the morning star”). The Greek Old Testament has heōsphoros, “bringer of dawn,” and the Latin Vulgate lucifer, “bringer of light”: the morning star’s name in Latin.
The English Bibles before the KJV had already used it: Wycliffe’s (“A! Lucifer, that risidist eerli”), and the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 that the KJV revised (“O Lucifer, thou faire mornyng chylde”). Christian writers read the passage as the fall of the devil, the one who said “I will be like the most High” (14:14). Origen, about AD 230, quotes it so: “How is Lucifer, who used to arise in the morning, fallen from heaven!”
Keeping the name keeps the passage apart from the titles of Christ. The New Testament calls Christ “the bright and morning star” (Revelation 22:16) and speaks of “the day star” arising in the heart (2 Peter 1:19). Renderings like “Day Star” and “morning star” give the fallen one the same words.
Where the King James Bible Has It
Sources
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πῶς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωΐ ἀνατέλλων;
Checked against: Elpenor, 2026-10-16 -
Quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris?
Checked against: The Latin Library, 2026-10-16 -
A! Lucifer, that risidist eerli, hou feldist thou doun fro heuene.
Checked against: Wikisource, 2026-10-16 -
Howe art thou fallen from heauen O Lucifer, thou faire mornyng chylde?
Checked against: Wikisource, 2026-10-16 -
Again, we are taught as follows by the prophet Isaiah regarding another opposing power. The prophet says, How is Lucifer, who used to arise in the morning, fallen from heaven!
Checked against: Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 4, New Advent, 2026-10-16
