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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Isaiah 14:12, The Origin of Lucifer, part I of III

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

//Today's verse is the only place in the Bible where the name Lucifer is used. In fact, it only appears in some translations; primarily the King James version. The word in Hebrew isn't Lucifer at all, or even close. It's "helel," which probably derives from the root "to shine brightly." 

When the original Hebrew was translated into Greek for the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, before Christ came on the scene), the word became "heosphoros," meaning Morning star, the name used by many translations today.

Moving on to the next step, the translation to Latin after Christ, the name became Lucifer. The roots of this word are "lux", meaning "light," and "ferre," meaning "to bring." Lucifer means "bearer of light." By the fourth century, Lucifer had become another name for Venus, the Morning Star.

When we arrive at the King James version of the Bible, in the year 1611, the name Lucifer remains, but surprisingly became  popularized as another name for Satan! How did we make this jump in logic? Continued tomorrow.

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