a star: one of the countless points of light in the night sky, as distinct from the sun and moon
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
At its root this word simply names a star, a single luminous point in the night sky. It is the ordinary word for the bodies Paul has in mind when he writes that one star differs from another in brightness, and for the stars that apocalyptic visions picture falling from heaven.
From that plain image the biblical writers draw three further uses. A star can be a sign: the star that rose over Bethlehem led the wise men to the child. A star can be a symbol of a spiritual being: in Revelation the seven stars in Christ's hand are the angels of the seven churches, and other stars stand for figures of light or of judgment. And a star can be a title: Jesus calls himself the bright morning star, the first light before the dawn.
The word is easy to render, since English says star in every one of these settings. The care a reader needs is not with the word but with what each star points to, which shifts from a literal luminary to a sign, a being, or a person as the context changes.
Nuances
1aa literal star, one of the luminous bodies of the night sky
Mat 24:29Mrk 13:251Co 15:41 (3×)Rev 6:13Rev 8:10Rev 8:11Rev 8:12Rev 12:4*
1bthe guiding star of Bethlehem, a star that appeared as a sign of the messiah's birth
Mat 2:2Mat 2:7Mat 2:9Mat 2:10
1ca star as a symbol of a spiritual being or person
singles out one specific, identifiable star, such as the star the magi followed to BethlehemMat 2:2Mat 2:9
gives an individual star its own name and story, as with the star called Wormwood that falls and poisons the watersRev 8:10Rev 8:11
pictures a single being through the image of one star, as when seven stars stand for seven messengers or the morning star is promised to the one who overcomesRev 1:16Rev 2:28Rev 22:16
compares one star against another to make a point about individual difference, as one star differing from another in brightness, or a false teacher pictured as a star that has wandered off its course1Co 15:41Jud 1:13
Both
both name the stars of the visible sky being shaken or obscured as a sign of the end of the age, one Gospel using each word for the same kind of eventMat 24:29Luk 21:25
names a star that Israel turned into an idol and carried through the wilderness, a specific object of forbidden worship rather than a mere point of lightAct 7:43
groups the stars together with the sun and moon as ordinary features of the visible sky, as when their absence during a storm left sailors unable to find their bearingsAct 27:20
pictures a vast, uncountable multitude by comparing it to the stars of the sky in numberHeb 11:12
φωσφόροςthe light-bringer or day star of 2 Peter 1:19, a close match for this word's morning star image but built on the idea of carrying light rather than on the star itself
Names the ordinary visible bodies of the night sky, including the fixed star that leads the magi to the child.Mat 2:2Mat 2:9
Used in end-times imagery of the sky itself failing, with stars falling or going dark.Mat 24:29Rev 6:13
Used as a symbol standing for something else in a vision, such as angels or messengers pictured as stars in a hand.Rev 1:16Rev 1:20
Used to picture people who are unstable and headed for ruin, called wandering stars.Jud 1:13
Used to compare degrees of splendor, noting that one star differs from another in brightness.1Co 15:41
Both
Both are used to picture the morning star as an image of Christ or of the certainty he brings: one text names him outright as the bright morning star, the other pictures that same star rising in the heart.Rev 22:162Pe 1:19
A single compound word built from light and bearing, naming specifically the morning star rather than a star in general, and it appears only in a description of a growing inward conviction as day breaks.2Pe 1:19
A star can be one light singled out of many and followed: the visitors from the east see "his star" rise, ask when it appeared, and watch it settle over the place where the child was.Mat 2:2Mat 2:7Mat 2:9Mat 2:10
Stars are countable, so they can be held in a hand, numbered, and reduced by a fraction: seven of them in the right hand of the one who speaks, and a third of them swept down by the dragon's tail.Rev 1:16Rev 1:20Rev 3:1Rev 12:4
One star on its own can act, be named, and be given something to do: a great star falls burning on the rivers and is called "Wormwood", and another fallen star receives the key to the shaft of the pit.Rev 8:10Rev 8:11Rev 9:1
Because stars are many and each one is small, a star also stands for a person: the seven stars are the messengers of the seven assemblies, false teachers are "wandering stars", and Jesus calls himself the bright morning star.Rev 2:1Rev 2:28Jud 1:13Rev 22:16
Both
Both are lights God set in the sky, and both are ranked by brightness rather than treated as equals: the sun has one glory, the moon another, the stars another, and even one star differs from another.1Co 15:41
Both fail together when the end is announced: in the same sentence the moon stops giving its light while the stars fall from the sky, and a third of each is struck so that the night loses its light.Mat 24:29Rev 8:12
Both can be worn by a figure in a vision, furniture of the sky arranged around a person: the woman is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.Rev 12:1
The moon never appears alone. It is always the night's counterpart to the sun, named in the same breath with it, so that when the sun is darkened the moon withholds its light, and the city that needs no sun needs no moon either.Mrk 13:24Luk 21:25Rev 21:23
The moon has a single visible face, large enough to change color rather than simply go out: it is said to turn to blood before the great day comes.Act 2:20Rev 6:12
astēr in the other biblical languages
כּוֹכָבHebrew“star”the ordinary Hebrew word for star, which the Old Testament likewise uses both for the night sky and as an image for rulers and heavenly hosts
In the New Testament a star most often appears as a vivid symbol or sign: a single guiding star leads the wise men, and in Revelation stars stand for angels, churches, and fallen powers rather than plain points of light.Mat 2:2Rev 1:20Rev 9:1
It becomes a title for the risen Christ himself, who calls himself the bright morning star, a usage with no parallel for the Hebrew word.Rev 22:16Rev 2:28
Both
Both name the literal stars of the night sky, and both foretell their darkening in the day of judgment, when the stars fall or lose their light.Isa 13:10Mat 24:29
Both can point beyond a light in the sky to a coming deliverer: the Hebrew foresees a star rising out of Jacob, and the Greek hails Christ as the morning star.Num 24:17Rev 22:16
In the Old Testament the stars are above all the measure of an uncountable multitude: God promises that Abraham's descendants will be as many as the stars, a covenant image the word carries again and again.Gen 15:5Gen 22:17Deu 1:10
The stars are named as created things that God set in the sky and keeps in order, counting them and calling each by name.Gen 1:16Psa 8:3Psa 147:4
What scholars say about astēr
The lexica are unanimous that the term denotes an individual star or heavenly luminary, distinct from ἄστρον, which tends toward the collective or a constellation (BDAG; LSJ). The figurative range is well mapped: Foerster (TDNT 1) traces the star as a symbol of divine and angelic beings and as a royal image, with the Old Testament background in Numbers 24:17 (the star out of Jacob) and Daniel 8:10 (stars as the host of heaven cast down). In Revelation the seven stars are given an explicit interpretation as the angels of the seven churches (1:20), and the star fallen with the key (9:1) and the stars swept by the dragon's tail (12:4) are widely read against the Danielic host-of-heaven motif (Beale, NIGTC; Aune, WBC). The morning star of 2:28 and 22:16 draws on Venus as the herald of dawn and on the Numbers 24 star, applied messianically; commentators debate whether 2:28 promises Christ himself or a share in his rule, but the sense of the word is not in doubt.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἀστήρlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἀστήρlexicon
W. Foerster, 'ἀστήρ, ἄστρον,' TDNT 1:503-505theological-dictionary
G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC), 1999commentary
D. E. Aune, Revelation (Word Biblical Commentary), 1997-1998commentary