Was the King James Version (KJV) Bible translated ONLY from the Hebrew for the Old Testament books?

Nope, and the smoking gun is "lucifer"...

The claim is made in many Protestant sects that the King James Version (KJV) translation of the Bible is superior to any other English translation (or at least superior to any Catholic translation). They say that Catholic Bibles in English are inferior because they are translated from the Latin Vulgate, which itself is a translation from the original Greek texts of Scripture for the New Testament and the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament. They claim that the KJV translators went back to the source and got it perfect in their translation without any possible errors from those darn Catholics.

The problem with this is there is a smoking gun in the KJV that proves the translators were using either the Latin Vulgate or the Douay-Rheims versions of the Bible as one of their sources for their translation. Ironically enough, the smoking gun is their use of the word “Lucifer” in Isaiah 14:12, and their obvious error in understanding the word and its meaning.

For background, and to clear up some very common misconceptions, we need to discuss this verse and why so many people think that “lucifer” is another name for Satan. As mentioned above, it appears only once in Scripture in Isaiah 14:

(KJV) 12 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!

(D-R) 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?

(NIV) 12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

(RSV-CE) 12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

The word of “lucifer” in this verse is the Hebrew word "helel" ( הֵילֵל ). The word means either shining one, light bringer or star of the morning. It only occurs here in Scripture. This word was translated in the Latin Vulgate as "lucifer", which is the Latin word for the morning star (the planet Venus). The Douay Rheims (D-R) also used the same word “lucifer” in its translation.

Now this chapter in Isaiah was a prophesy about the king of Babylon, who was full of pride and an evil, wicked ruler who was brutally treating the Israelites during their captivity in Babylon. The next verses go on to describe this “morning star” and his evil pride, plus prophesy what will happen to him.

(KJV) 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

(D-R) 13 And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. 14 I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the most High. 15 But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit.

(NIV) 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

(RSV-CE) 13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit.

Christians have for two millenia have connected these verses from Isaiah, about the king of Babylon, as an allusion to & mirror of the downfall of Satan in studies on the Scriptures, and connected them because both were punished for their pride. It’s not hard to see why when you compare this chapter in Isaiah with the mention that Jesus makes about Satan falling like lightning (Luke 10)

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven

and in Revelation 12 it mentions that Satan was thrown down by St. Michael the Archangel

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

But Jesus doesn't actually connect His statement with that verse from Isaiah. It was Christians for millenia who noticed the similarity between the king of Babylon (lucifer) and Satan. Many people mistakenly though that “lucifer” was a name instead of a title. This is the error the KJV translators made, and they thought that "lucifer" was another name for Satan, so they kept it as “Lucifer” and capitalized it, instead of translating it as morning star or light bringer, etc.

If they were truly translating ONLY, as claimed, from the Textus Receptus, the Masoretic Text, and the original Hebrew, they wouldn't have written “Lucifer”. They would have translated the Hebrew word “helel” as something else entirely and it would have been a descriptor instead of a name.

The KJV translators were using either the Latin Vulgate or the Douay Rheims Bibles (or both) as one of their multiple sources for their translation, because they made an error in their translation here. This is a smoking gun, and it proves that the KJV was not solely translated directly from the Hebrew. In other places in the wording used in the KJV, it becomes clear they were borrowing quite heavily from the Douay Rheims. This is hard to prove definitively, but hopefully with this it has been shown there is simply no other explanation for why the Latin word for light bringer is used.

One final point that needs to be made. There are Protestants online and in videos who claim that secretly Catholics worship Satan because in the Easter Mass there is a point in the liturgy that the priest or deacon chants out various titles for Christ, and one of those titles that is used is “Light Bringer”. Now this title for Christ is used, literally, by Christ Himself! (Revelation 22)

16 “I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.”

Now this may shock you, but can you guess what the Latin & Italian translation for “bright morning star” becomes? Yep, you guessed correctly. This title used by Christ Himself to describe Himself, in Latin, is “lucifer”. So when you hear about the Vatican invoking “lucifer” in the Easter Mass, you will understand that this is a title of Christ that He Himself uses. It is NOT the name of Satan because “lucifer” is NOT a name and definitely NOT a name for Satan.