Lucifer Lost (in Translation)

Lucifer, a Latin name which originally meant 'light bringer' (Lux - light Ferous - carry) became a synonym for the Devil or Satan, apparently through a translation error.

Lucifer makes a rare appearance in the Old Testament in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 12 in the Latin version of the Bible.

In the New Jerusalem Bible, this phrase is now translated as: "How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn?"

So how did the Star come to be known as the Devil, a being that is believed to have existed from the Beginning of Time and who is often equated with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden ?

The Isaiah text refers to the death of a king of Babylon and the Daystar was a metaphor for the downfall of this king. The Christian concept of the Devil did not exist at the time that the Isaiah text was composed.

In the 4th century St Jerome translated the phrase 'Daystar, son of the Dawn' as 'Lucifer' for the Vulgate (the Latin version of the Bible).

The translators for the King James version of the Bible based some of their revisions on St Jerome's Vulgate rather than on the original Hebrew texts.

The Isaiah verse is apparently the seed for the legend about the rebellious angel in Paradise Lost who was cast out of heaven and whose name became synonymous with darkness instead of light.

The expression Daystar or Star of the Morning pops up in the Bible a few times more, for example in the Book of Revelation. On these occasions, the translators have decided that Lucifer is a reference to Jesus Christ rather than the Devil.

To confuse matters further, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:14, "...even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Those who choose to believe that the Bible is the literal infallible word of God and not metaphorical or astrological teachings, must surely concede that even if the Biblical Word of God is literal and infallible, his translators are probably not.

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