It is written:
“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! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)
Critics of modern day translations of Scripture claim that modern versions try and equate Jesus with Satan from this passage.
It is claimed that many of the translations remove the word “Lucifer” and instead use “morning star.” Then, since Jesus is referred to as the “morning star” in Revelation 22:16, it is argued that these translators are claiming that Jesus and Satan are the same person.
What shall we say to this?
First, we need to understand that the word “Lucifer” is not even in the Hebrew or Greek Old Testament (Septuagint). It is instead borrowed from the Latin Vulgate, which was written long after Isaiah and Jesus lived.
Second, the person being referred to in Isaiah 14:12 is NOT Satan. It is the king of Babylon, who is also called a “man” (Isaiah 14:16). If there is a reference to Satan here, it is secondary.
Third, even if both Jesus and Satan are identified as the morning star, that would not make them both the same person, any more then saying that since I drive a “blue car” and some other person drives a “blue car”then it must be the same car!
“Consider a final example. A key argument of KJO supporters in defense of the “satanic” nature of the new translations can supposedly be seen in how the new translations translate Isaiah 14:12. Here they allegedly mistranslate the person of Lucifer or Satan as the person of Jesus Christ. Obviously, making the Person of Christ become the person of Satan would be horrible blasphemy. But did this really happen? The KJV reads, “How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer; son of the morning!” The NASB and NIV read, “How you have fallen from heaven, 0 star of the morning” (or “0 morning star”), son of the dawn.” Why did the KJV use the term “Lucifer” and modern versions the term “morning star”? The term Lucifer came to us by way of Jerome’s Latin Bible, the Vulgate, which the KJV translators sometimes used for their own translation. The Latin word for “morning star” is “Lucifer.” This word was used to refer to Venus, the morning star, and was applied figuratively to the pride and fall of the king of Babylon. Now, to associate the morning star with someone other than the king of Babylon is an interpretation which must be brought to this verse from somewhere else. So how did Lucifer (Latin for “morning star”) become equated with the evil personage of Satan, the devil? This is something that the medieval Church authorities imported into this text, without direct scriptural warrant.48 In other words, to associate the Latin word “the morning star”—lucifer—with the concept of the devil or Satan can only be suggested in a secondary sense. Of course, we know that the true bright and morning star is Jesus because in Revelation 22:16 (KJV) Jesus says, “I am… the bright and morning star.” But this does not mean that Isaiah can’t use the Hebrew word for morning star to also speak of the king of Babylon. In essence, the KJO writers may claim new translations have produced major doctrinal deviations from the faith, but this charge is entirely false. Anyone who wishes can examine any good English translation or any Greek text—whether the Textus Receptus (TR), Majority Text (MT), Nestle-Aland, NIV, KJV, NASB, RSV, NKJV, etc.—and guess what? They will derive the exact same doctrinal and ethical beliefs.” (John Ankerberg and John Weldon, The Facts On The King James Only Debate, 315-330 (Kindle Edition); Eugene, Oregon; Harvest House Publishers)
We are blessed to have the Word Of God in our modern language. Are you studying His Word?
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