It is a very common belief that the name of Satan before he rebelled was Lucifer.  But is this belief correct?  

The Latin word lucifer

Where did the name Lucifer originate?  The word “lucifer” appears just once in the KJV and NKJV, in Isaiah 14:12.  It is translated from the Hebrew word heylel.  “Lucifer” is a Latin word meaning light-bearer, from lux meaning light and fero meaning to carry.  It found its way into the KJV and the NKJV through the Vulgate version of the Bible.  The Vulgate version is a translation of the Bible into Latin.  It was translated primarily by Jerome and completed about AD 405.  At the time the translators of the KJV were working on their translation, the Vulgate version was one of the most widely circulated translations of the Bible.  The translators were certainly familiar with it and no doubt referred to it.

Jerome used the word “lucifer” three times in his Latin Vulgate translation: in Job 11:17, Isaiah 14:12 and 2 Pet 1:19.  Below are these three verses as translated by the NKJV and the Latin Vulgate.

Job 11:17  And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning.
Job 11:17  et quasi meridianus fulgor consurget tibi ad vesperam; et cum te consumptum putaveris, orieris ut lucifer.

Isa 14:12  “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!
Isa 14:12  quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes.

2Pe 1:19  And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
2Pe 1:19  et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem cui bene facitis adtendentes quasi lucernae lucenti in caliginoso loco donec dies inlucescat et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris

The Vulgate is very interesting.  It has lucifer (the devil) falling from heaven in Isaiah and then lucifer (a brightness) rising in the heart of Christians in 2 Peter.  The KJV translators were no doubt aware of this confronting use of the word lucifer in the Vulgate and were careful to avoid such embarrassment in their translation.  Nevertheless, when the KJV translators came to the difficult Hebrew word heylel in Isaiah 14:12, they simply decided to use the Latin word “lucifer” straight out of the Vulgate version.  The NKJV simply copied the KJV.

The Hebrew word heylel

The word heylel appears only once in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 14:12.  This is the word that the KJV and NKJV translate as “lucifer”.

According to Strong, heylel means “morning star”, and according to Brown-Driver-Briggs, heylel means “morning star or shining one”.  In fact, most Bible translations translate heylel as “day star” or “morning star”.

Just having one occurrence of heylel does not give much information about its usage and hence insight into its meaning.  However, we can delve deeper into the meaning of heylel by looking at the word it is derived from, halal.

According to Strong and Brown-Driver-Briggs halal means shine, praise, or boast.  The word can have both a positive and a negative meaning and so the context of the word must determine its meaning.  Here are a few examples.

Job 31:26  If I have observed the sun when it shines [halal], Or the moon moving in brightness,

Psa 10:3  For the wicked boasts [halal] of his heart’s desire; He blesses the greedy and renounces the LORD.

Psa 56:10  In God (I will praise [halal] His word), In the LORD (I will praise [halal] His word),

Just as the context of halal must be considered in its translation and meaning, so must the context of heylel be considered.  The context of Isaiah 14:12 is clearly negative.

Isa 14:9  Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Isa 14:10  They all shall speak and say to you: “Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?
Isa 14:11  Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you.”
Isa 14:12  How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer [heylel], son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
Isa 14:13   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;
Isa 14:14   I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
Isa 14:15   Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

The context shows Satan being very boastful; nothing is said about him bearing light or goodness.  How then should heylel be translated?  Considering the meaning of its root, halal, which means “shine, praise, or boast” we have various options such as, “light bearer, one who praises, or boaster”.  Considering the context of Isaiah 14:12 there is no justifiable reason for translating heylel as light bearer.  A much better translation is boaster.

Isa 14:12  How you are fallen from heaven, O boaster, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

Apart from the context, there is another reason why heylel should not be translated as “morning star” or “light bearer”, and that is these names are, so it can be argued, names of Jesus Christ.  Why that matters is that God says that He will not give His glory to another.

Isa 42:8  I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

Isa 48:11  For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.

In other words, God will not His glorious name to another being.

Jesus Christ is described as the Morning Star, the Greek words for which are: orthrinos aster. 

Rev 22:16  “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star [orthrinos aster].”

God created light, so in a very real sense He is the light bearer.

Gen 1:3  Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world”, so in a very real sense He is also the light bearer.

John 8:12   Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

Conclusion

Considering all that we have: the meanings of the root word of heylel, the context of the word heylel, and that God does not share His names with others, surely “boaster” is a far better translation of heylel than is “lucifer”.

Isa 14:12  How you are fallen from heaven, O boaster, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!