“How you have fallen from heaven, You star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who defeated the nations!
Parallel translations
- WEB How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
- KJV 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!
- BSB How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.
- NKJV “Howyou are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
- NLT “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Isaiah laments how the brilliant 'morning star' has fallen from heaven, cut down to the ground after laying nations low. The verse marks the dramatic collapse of the proud oppressor.
Overview
The title 'morning star, son of the dawn' (rendered 'Lucifer' in older translations) depicts the king of Babylon at the height of his radiance now humiliated. Christians have long seen here an echo of the deeper pride and fall of Satan (cf. Luke 10:18), though the primary reference is the Babylonian ruler. Either way, the passage warns that exalted pride ends in ruin under God's hand.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ezek 28:13–17You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. In the day that you were created they were prepared.
- Luke 10:18He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.
- Rev 12:7–10There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war.
- Rev 8:10The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters.
- Rev 22:16I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David; the Bright and Morning Star.”
- Isa 34:4All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
- 2 Pet 1:19We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts:
- Rev 2:28and I will give him the morning star.
- Isa 14:4–6that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
- 2 Pet 2:4For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
- Rev 9:1The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.
- Jer 51:20–24“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms.
- Jer 50:23How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
- Isa 13:10For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 14:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.