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Text -- Isaiah 14:12 (NET)

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Context
14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations!
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Dictionary Themes and Topics: WORLD, COSMOLOGICAL | SHEOL | Rulers | Pride | PROVERB | Lucifer | Isaiah, The Book of | Isaiah | ISAIAH, BOOK OF | ISAIAH, 8-9 | ISAIAH, 1-7 | DAY-STAR | Babylon | Astronomy | Ambition | ASTROLOGY | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Calvin , Defender , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes , Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable , Guzik

Other
Critics Ask

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Isa 14:12 - -- From the height of thy glory.

From the height of thy glory.

Wesley: Isa 14:12 - -- Which properly is a bright star, that ushers in the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the mighty king of Babylon.

Which properly is a bright star, that ushers in the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the mighty king of Babylon.

Wesley: Isa 14:12 - -- The title of son is given in scripture not only to a person or thing begotten or produced by another, but also to any thing which is related, to it, i...

The title of son is given in scripture not only to a person or thing begotten or produced by another, but also to any thing which is related, to it, in which sense we read of the son of a night, Jon 4:10, a son of perdition, Joh 17:12, and, which is more agreeable, to the present case, the sons of Arcturus, Job 38:32.

JFB: Isa 14:12 - -- "day star." A title truly belonging to Christ (Rev 22:16), "the bright and morning star," and therefore hereafter to be assumed by Antichrist. GESENIU...

"day star." A title truly belonging to Christ (Rev 22:16), "the bright and morning star," and therefore hereafter to be assumed by Antichrist. GESENIUS, however, renders the Hebrew here as in Eze 21:12; Zec 11:2, "howl."

JFB: Isa 14:12 - -- "prostrate"; as in Exo 17:13, "discomfit."

"prostrate"; as in Exo 17:13, "discomfit."

Clarke: Isa 14:12 - -- O Lucifer, son of the morning - The Versions in general agree in this translation, and render הילל heilel as signifying Lucifer, Φωσφω...

O Lucifer, son of the morning - The Versions in general agree in this translation, and render הילל heilel as signifying Lucifer, Φωσφωρος, the morning star, whether Jupiter or Venus; as these are both bringers of the morning light, or morning stars, annually in their turn. And although the context speaks explicitly concerning Nebuchadnezzar, yet this has been, I know not why, applied to the chief of the fallen angels, who is most incongruously denominated Lucifer, (the bringer of light!) an epithet as common to him as those of Satan and Devil. That the Holy Spirit by his prophets should call this arch-enemy of God and man the light-bringer, would be strange indeed. But the truth is, the text speaks nothing at all concerning Satan nor his fall, nor the occasion of that fall, which many divines have with great confidence deduced from this text. O how necessary it is to understand the literal meaning of Scripture, that preposterous comments may be prevented! Besides, I doubt much whether our translation be correct. הילל heilel , which we translate Lucifer, comes from ילל yalal , yell, howl, or shriek, and should be translated, "Howl, son of the morning;"and so the Syriac has understood it; and for this meaning Michaelis contends: see his reasons in Parkhurst, under הלל halal .

Calvin: Isa 14:12 - -- 12.How art thou fallen from heaven! Isaiah proceeds with the discourse which he had formerly begun as personating the dead, and concludes that the ty...

12.How art thou fallen from heaven! Isaiah proceeds with the discourse which he had formerly begun as personating the dead, and concludes that the tyrant differs in no respect from other men, though his object was to lead men to believe that he was some god. He employs an elegant metaphor, by comparing him to Lucifer, and calls him the Son of the Dawn; 220 and that on account of his splendor and brightness with which he shone above others. The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians. But when passages of Scripture are taken up at random, and no attention is paid to the context, we need not wonder that mistakes of this kind frequently arise. Yet it was an instance of very gross ignorance, to imagine that Lucifer was the king of devils, and that the Prophet gave him this name. But as these inventions have no probability whatever, let us pass by them as useless fables.

Casting the lot upon the nations, or weakening the nations. 221 Translators have mistaken the meaning of this clause, by rendering the participle הולש ( holesh) passively, Thou art become weak, for its signification is active. But as the verb from which it is derived signifies to cast a lot, and as the preposition על , ( gnal,) upon, is here added, it is best to take it in this meaning, that, as the ruler and disposer of all countries, he directed them by lot, or held them as his own possessions. And yet I do not reject the other meaning, that he weakened the nations

Defender: Isa 14:12 - -- Although the prophecy is directed toward the earthly king of Babylon (Isa 14:4), here it goes far beyond him (he could never fall from heaven) to the ...

Although the prophecy is directed toward the earthly king of Babylon (Isa 14:4), here it goes far beyond him (he could never fall from heaven) to the wicked spirit possessing his body and inspiring his actions. Just as Satan possessed and used the serpent's body in Eden, so he does here with Babylon's king.

Defender: Isa 14:12 - -- "Lucifer" means "shining one" and is rendered "day-star" in some translations. This is the only time it occurs in the Bible, but clearly seems intende...

"Lucifer" means "shining one" and is rendered "day-star" in some translations. This is the only time it occurs in the Bible, but clearly seems intended as a name for Satan and has been so used throughout history. Many New Age and pantheistic cults have adopted Lucifer as their "god.""

TSK: Isa 14:12 - -- How art thou fallen : Isa 13:10, Isa 34:4; Eze 28:13-17; Luk 10:18; 2Pe 2:4; Rev 12:7-10 Lucifer : or, day-star, 2Pe 1:19; Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16 weaken ...

How art thou fallen : Isa 13:10, Isa 34:4; Eze 28:13-17; Luk 10:18; 2Pe 2:4; Rev 12:7-10

Lucifer : or, day-star, 2Pe 1:19; Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16

weaken : Isa 14:4-6; Jer 50:23, Jer 51:20-24

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Isa 14:12 - -- How art thou fallen from heaven - A new image is presented here. It is that of the bright morning star; and a comparison of the once magnificen...

How art thou fallen from heaven - A new image is presented here. It is that of the bright morning star; and a comparison of the once magnificent monarch with that beautiful star. He is now exhibited as having fallen from his place in the east to the earth. His glory is dimmed; his brightness quenched. Nothing can be more poetic and beautiful than a comparison of a magnificent monarch with the bright morning star! Nothing more striking in representing his death, than the idea of that star falling to the earth!

Lucifer - Margin, ‘ Day-star’ ( הילל hēylēl , from הלל hâlal , "to shine"). The word in Hebrew occurs as a noun nowhere else. In two other places Eze 21:12; Zec 11:2, it is used as a verb in the imperative mood of Hiphil, and is translated ‘ howl’ from the verb ילל yālal , "to howl"or "cry."Gesenius and Rosenmuller suppose that it should be so rendered here. So Noyes renders it, ‘ Howl, son of the morning!’ But the common translation seems to be preferable. The Septuagint renders it, Ἑωσφόρος Heōsphoros , and the Vulgate, ‘ Lucifer, the morning star.’ The Chaldee, ‘ How art thou fallen from high, who wert splendid among the sons of men.’ There can be no doubt that the object in the eve of the prophet was the bright morning star; and his design was to compare this magnificent oriental monarch with that. The comparison of a monarch with the sun, or the other heavenly bodies, is common in the Scriptures.

Son of the morning - This is a Hebraism (see the note at Mat 1:1), and signifies that that bright star is, as it were, the production, or the offspring of morning; or that it belongs to the morning. The word ‘ son’ often thus denotes possession, or that one thing belongs to another. The same star in one place represents the Son of God himself; Rev 21:16 : ‘ I am - the bright and morning star.’

Which didst weaken the nations - By thy oppressions and exactions, rendering once mighty nations feeble.

Poole: Isa 14:12 - -- From heaven from the height of thy glory and royal majesty. As kings are sometimes called gods in Scripture, so their palaces and thrones may be fitl...

From heaven from the height of thy glory and royal majesty. As kings are sometimes called gods in Scripture, so their palaces and thrones may be fitly called their heavens.

O Lucifer which properly is a bright and eminent star, which ushers in the sun and the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the high and mighty king of Babylon. And it is a very usual thing, both in prophetical and in profane writers, to describe the princes and potentates of the world under the title of the sun or stars of heaven. Some understand this place of the devil; to whom indeed it may be mystically applied; but as he is never called by this name in Scripture, so it cannot be literally meant of him, but of the king of Babylon, as is undeniably evident from the whole context, which certainly speaks of one and the same person, and describes him as plainly as words can do it.

Son of the morning: the title of son is given in Scripture not only to a person or thing begotten or produced by another, but also in general to any thing which is any way related to another; in which sense we read of a son of stripes , Deu 25:2 , the son of a night , Jon 4:10 , a son of perdition , Joh 17:12 , and, which is more agreeable to the present case, the sons of Arcturus , Job 38:32 .

Haydock: Isa 14:12 - -- O Lucifer. O day-star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken of the king of Babylon. It may also be applied, in a spiritual sense, to Lucif...

O Lucifer. O day-star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken of the king of Babylon. It may also be applied, in a spiritual sense, to Lucifer, the prince of devils, who was created a bright angel, but fell by pride and rebellion against God. (Challoner) (Luke x. 18.) (Calmet) ---

He fell by pride, as Nabuchodonosor did. (Worthington) ---

Homer (Iliad xix.) represents the demon of discord hurled down by Jupiter to the miserable region of mortals.

Gill: Isa 14:12 - -- How art thou fallen from heaven,.... This is not to be understood of the fall of Satan, and the apostate angels, from their first estate, when they we...

How art thou fallen from heaven,.... This is not to be understood of the fall of Satan, and the apostate angels, from their first estate, when they were cast down from heaven to hell, though there may be an allusion to it; see Luk 10:18 but the words are a continuation of the speech of the dead to the king of Babylon, wondering at it, as a thing almost incredible, that he who seemed to be so established on the throne of his kingdom, which was his heaven, that he should be deposed or fall from it. So the destruction of the Roman Pagan emperors is signified by the casting out of the dragon and his angels from heaven, Rev 12:7 and in like manner Rome Papal, or the Romish antichrist, will fall from his heaven of outward splendour and happiness, of honour and authority, now, possessed by him:

O Lucifer, son of the morning! alluding to the star Venus, which is the phosphorus or morning star, which ushers in the light of the morning, and shows that day is at hand; by which is meant, not Satan, who is never in Scripture called Lucifer, though he was once an angel of light, and sometimes transforms himself into one, and the good angels are called morning stars, Job 38:7 and such he and his angels once were; but the king of Babylon is intended, whose royal glory and majesty, as outshining all the rest of the kings of the earth, is expressed by those names; and which perhaps were such as he took himself, or were given him by his courtiers. The Targum is,

"how art thou fallen from on high, who was shining among the sons of men, as the star Venus among the stars.''

Jarchi, as the Talmud c, applies it to Nebuchadnezzar; though, if any particular person is pointed at, Belshazzar is rather designed, the last of the kings of Babylon. The church of Rome, in the times of the apostles, was famous for its light and knowledge; its faith was spoken of throughout all the earth; and its bishops or pastors were bright stars, in the morning of the Gospel dispensation:

how art thou cut down to the ground; like a tall tree that is cut down, and laid along the ground, and can never rise and flourish more, to which sometimes great monarchs and monarchies are compared; see Isa 10:18 and this denotes that the king of Babylon should die, not a natural, but a violent death, as Belshazzar did, with whom the Babylonish monarchy fell, and never rose more; and this is a representation of the sudden, violent, and irrecoverable ruin of the Romish antichrist, Rev 18:21,

which didst weaken the nations! by subduing them, taking cities and towns, plundering the inhabitants of their substance, carrying them captive, or obliging them to a yearly tribute, by which means he weakened them, and kept them under. So the Romish antichrist has got the power over many nations of the earth, and has reigned over the kings of it, and by various methods has drained them of their wealth and riches, and so greatly enfeebled them; nay, they have of themselves given their power and strength unto the beast, Rev 17:12. Several of the Jewish writers observe, that the word here used signifies to cast lots; and so it is used in the Misna d, and explained in the Talmud e; and is applied to the king of Babylon casting lots upon the nations and kingdoms whom he should go to war with, and subdue first; see Eze 21:19. The Targum is,

"thou art cast down to the earth, who killedst the people:''

a fit description of antichrist, Rev 11:7.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 14:12 In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָ•...

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O ( h ) Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! ( h ) Yo...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Isa 14:1-32 - --1 God's merciful restoration of Israel.3 Their triumphant exultation over Babel.24 God's purpose against Assyria.29 Palestina is threatened.

MHCC: Isa 14:1-23 - --The whole plan of Divine Providence is arranged with a view to the good of the people of God. A settlement in the land of promise is of God's mercy. L...

Matthew Henry: Isa 14:4-23 - -- The kings of Babylon, successively, were the great enemies and oppressors of God's people, and therefore the destruction of Babylon, the fall of the...

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:12 - -- "How art thou fallen from the sky, thou star of light, sun of the dawn, hurled down to the earth, thou that didst throw down nations from above?" ...

Constable: Isa 7:1--39:8 - --III. Israel's crisis of faith chs. 7--39 This long section of the book deals with Israel's major decision in Isa...

Constable: Isa 13:1--35:10 - --B. God's sovereignty over the nations chs. 13-35 This major section of the book emphasizes the folly of ...

Constable: Isa 13:1--23:18 - --1. Divine judgments on the nations chs. 13-23 The recurrence of the Hebrew word massa', translat...

Constable: Isa 13:1--20:6 - --The first series of five oracles chs. 13-20 The first series shows that God has placed I...

Constable: Isa 13:1--14:28 - --The first oracle against Babylon 13:1-14:27 The reader would expect that Isaiah would inveigh against Assyria since it was the most threatening enemy ...

Guzik: Isa 14:1-32 - --Isaiah 14 - Babylon and Lucifer A. The fall of the King of Babylon. 1. (1-2) Judgment on Babylon means mercy on Israel. For the LORD will have mer...

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Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Isa 14:12 ISAIAH 14:12 —Who is Lucifer in this verse? PROBLEM: Many commentators consider this passage to be a reference to Satan, because the name “Lu...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Isaiah (Book Introduction) ISAIAH, son of Amoz (not Amos); contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, in Israel, but younger than they; and of Micah, in Judah. His call to a higher deg...

JFB: Isaiah (Outline) PARABLE OF JEHOVAH'S VINEYARD. (Isa. 5:1-30) SIX DISTINCT WOES AGAINST CRIMES. (Isa. 5:8-23) (Lev 25:13; Mic 2:2). The jubilee restoration of posses...

TSK: Isaiah (Book Introduction) Isaiah has, with singular propriety, been denominated the Evangelical Prophet, on account of the number and variety of his prophecies concerning the a...

TSK: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Isa 14:1, God’s merciful restoration of Israel; Isa 14:3, Their triumphant exultation over Babel; Isa 14:24, God’s purpose against As...

Poole: Isaiah (Book Introduction) THE ARGUMENT THE teachers of the ancient church were of two sorts: 1. Ordinary, the priests and Levites. 2. Extraordinary, the prophets. These we...

Poole: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 14 Israel should be delivered from the Babylonish captivity: their triumphant insultation over Babel, Isa 14:1-23 . God’ s purpose aga...

MHCC: Isaiah (Book Introduction) Isaiah prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He has been well called the evangelical prophet, on account of his numerous and...

MHCC: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction) (v. 1-23) The destruction of Babylon, and the death of its proud monarch. (Isa 14:24-27) Assurance of the destruction of Assyria. (Isa 14:28-32) The...

Matthew Henry: Isaiah (Book Introduction) An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Isaiah Prophet is a title that sounds very great to those that understand it, t...

Matthew Henry: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction) In this chapter, I. More weight is added to the burden of Babylon, enough to sink it like a mill-stone; I. It is Israel's cause that is to be ple...

Constable: Isaiah (Book Introduction) Introduction Title and writer The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the o...

Constable: Isaiah (Outline) Outline I. Introduction chs. 1-5 A. Israel's condition and God's solution ch. 1 ...

Constable: Isaiah Isaiah Bibliography Alexander, Joseph Addison. Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah. 1846, 1847. Revised ed. ...

Haydock: Isaiah (Book Introduction) THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS. INTRODUCTION. This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, (Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 25.) the great prophet; from t...

Gill: Isaiah (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH This book is called, in the New Testament, sometimes "the Book of the Words of the Prophet Esaias", Luk 3:4 sometimes only t...

Gill: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 14 This chapter contains prophecies of the restoration of the Jews, of the fall of the king of Babylon, and the destruction ...

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