Isaiah 14.12-15.
Where’d the devil come from? Bible doesn’t say.
No it doesn’t. I know; popular Christian culture insists the devil’s origins are totally spelled out in the bible. When I ask ’em to point me to chapter and verse, they gotta track it down—really, they gotta Google the word “Lucifer”—but that’s where they invariably point me. Here, they insist, is where the devil went wrong.
Isaiah 14.12-15 KJV - 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!
- 13 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:
- 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
- 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell,
- to the sides of the pit.
You gotta quote it in King James Version, because most other translations don’t bother to keep it “Lucifer.” They insist on translating it as other things: “Morning star” (
Y’ever wonder why these bibles insist on translating it other ways? Not, like
The reason other bibles render it differently is ’cause it’s not a proper name. It looks like a proper name:
But like I said, it’s poetry. It’s not directly addressed to the morning star. It’s addressed to the guy Isaiah was calling the morning star in this prophecy, which he prefaced with the following statement:
Isaiah 14.3-4 KWL - 3 On the day the L
ORD gives you rest from your pain, dread, the hard service you worked, - 4
A take up this saying to the king of Babylon.
This king didn’t exist yet. Isaiah’s instructions were for future generations of Hebrews, who were gonna grow up in Babylon after Nabú-kudúrri-usúr (
So yeah, “lucifer” is meant to describe the king of Babylon. As some translations make it obvious:
Isaiah 14.12 GNT - King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground.
But good luck telling that to some Christians. They grew up believing this verse is about Satan. They’re not giving up this idea without a fight.