Was She, or Was She not "A Virgin"?

Her OB/GYN Would Have Known!

 

 

I.            Introduction

 

The verse Isaiah 7:14 is one of the most popular items in the portfolio of Christian apologists and missionaries.  Commonly referred to as the "Virgin Birth proof text", this passage is cited as evidence from the "Old Testament" that the birth of Jesus of a virgin (Mary), as described in the New Testament, is foretold by the Prophet Isaiah.  The efforts by Christian apologists and missionaries to deceive Jewish people into accepting and believing the doctrine of the "Virgin Birth", a foundational doctrine in Christian theology but irrelevant to traditional Judaism, require a thorough exposition of this verse. 

 

The detailed study of Isaiah 7:14 presented in this essay is divided into two main parts.  In the first part (Section II), the relevant texts, translations of the original Hebrew text, summaries of the Christian and Jewish perspectives, and linguistic expansions of the Hebrew text are presented.  In the second part (Section III), the most common claims made by Christian apologists and missionaries are presented along with the respective Jewish responses that refute them.

 

II.            Texts, Translations, Perspectives, and Linguistic Analysis

 

A.     The Hebrew Text of Isaiah 7:14 and Related Texts

 

Table II.A -1 shows side-by-side English renditions and the Hebrew text of the verse Isaiah 7:14, as well as the verse Matthew 1:23 in the New Testament.  Matthew 1:23 is included since it contains the alleged quote of Isaiah 7:14 as part of the narrative that describes the conception and birth of Jesus.  The King James Version (KJV) translations also include the footnoted cross-references to each other.  [The references from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).  The corresponding passages quoted below the table are from the KJV.]  Several words, to be revisited in the analysis, are highlighted in the Hebrew text, along with their respective translated expressions in the English texts.

 

Table II.A-1 – The Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 and other relevant texts

 

KJV Translation from Greek New Testament	King James Version Translation	Jewish Translation from the Hebrew	Hebrew Text
Matthew 1:23	Isaiah 7:14
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,”(1) which being interpreted is, “God with us.”	Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.(2)	Therefore the L-rd Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and you [or, she] shall call his name Immanuel.

(1) Isaiah 7:14                      (2) Matthew 1:23

 

A review of the three translations reveals significant differences between the Jewish translation and both KJV renditions.  These differences will be addressed as part of the analysis that follows.

 

B.    A Survey of English Translations of Isaiah 7:14

 

The following sections contain a collection of English translations of Isaiah 7:14 from various sources.  These translations are grouped in a specific manner that will facilitate the analysis.

 

1.      Jewish Translations

 

Renditions of Isaiah 7:14 from five Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible, including respective footnotes, are shown in Table II.B.1-1.

 

Table II.B.1-1 – Isaiah 7:14 as rendered by Jewish sources

 

Source	Translation
ArtScroll Tanach (Stone Edition; AST)*	Therefore, my Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Behold, the maiden will become pregnant and bear a son, and she will name him Immanuel.
The Jerusalem Bible (Koren Publishing; JBK)	Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and shall call his name ‘Immanu-el’.
JPS Hebrew-English TANAKH (JPS)**	Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord!  Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son.  Let her name him Immanuel. [g]
Judaica Press Tanach (JPT)***	Therefore, the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.
Soncino Press Tanach (SPT)	Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-El.

*   AST Commentary: Either Isaiah’s (RASHI) or Ahaz’ (RADAQ) young wife will bear a son

    and, through prophetic inspiration, will give him the name Immanuel, which means “God is

    With Us.” thus in effect prophesying that Judah will be saved from the threat of Rezin and

    Pekah.

**  JPS Footnote: [g] Meaning “with us is God.”

*** JPT commentary is detailed, and it is summarized in the AST

 

2.      Christian Translations:  Category I

 

Category I comprises translations of Isaiah 7:14 from five Christian Bibles in which the renditions of the noun  (almah) are generally consistent with Jewish versions.  This collection of Christian translations, including respective footnotes, is shown in Table II.B.2-1.

 

Table II.B.2-1 – Isaiah 7:14 as rendered by Christian sources – Category I

 

Source	Translation
Bible in Basic English (BBE)	For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.
New English Bible (NEB)	Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and will call him Immanuel.
New English Translation Bible (NET)*	For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign.22 Look, this23 young woman24 is about to conceive25 and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him26 Immanuel.27
New Jerusalem Bible (Catholic; NJB)	The Lord will give you a sign in any case:  It is this: the young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel
Revised Standard Version (American; RSV)	Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el.

* The translator's notes (tn) in the NET Bible are informative:

   22tn (7:14) The Hebrew term úåà, (ot) “sign,” can refer to a miraculous event (see v. 11),

           but it does not carry this sense inherently.  Elsewhere in Isaiah the word usually refers

           to a natural occurrence or an object/person vested with special significance (see 8:18;

           19:20; 20:3; 37:30; 55:13; 66:19).  Only in 38:7-8, 22 does it refer to a miraculous

           deed that involves suspending or overriding natural laws. The sign outlined in vv. 14-

           17 involves God’s providential control over events and their timing, but not necessarily

           miraculous intervention.

   23tn (7:14) Heb “the young woman.”  The Hebrew article has been rendered as a

           demonstrative pronoun (“this”) in the translation to bring out its force.  It is very likely

           that Isaiah pointed to a woman who was present at the scene of the prophet’s

           interview with Ahaz.  Isaiah’s address to the “house of David” and his use of second

           plural forms suggests other people were present, and his use of the second feminine

           singular verb form (“you will name”) later in the verse is best explained if addressed to

           a woman who is present.

   24tn (7:14) Traditionally, “virgin.”  Because this verse from Isaiah is quoted in Matt 1:23 in

           connection with Jesus’ birth, the Isaiah passage has been regarded since the earliest

           Christian times as a prophecy of Christ’s virgin birth.  Much debate has taken place

           over the best way to translate this Hebrew term, although ultimately one’s view of the

           doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is unaffected.  Though the Hebrew word used here,

           äîìò, (‘almah) can sometimes refer to a woman who is a virgin (Gen 24:43), it does

           not carry this meaning inherently.  The word is simply the feminine form of the

           corresponding masculine noun, íìò (‘elem), “young man”; cf. 1 Sam.17:56; 20:22).

           The Aramaic and Ugaritic cognate terms are both used of women who are not virgins.

           The word seems to pertain to age, not sexual experience, and would normally be

            translated “young woman.”  The LXX translator(s) who later translated the Book of

            Isaiah into Greek sometime between the second and first century B.C., however,

            rendered the Hebrew term by the more specific Greek word parqenoz (parthenos),

            which does mean “virgin” in a technical sense.  This is the Greek term that also

            appears in the citation of Isa 7:14 in Matt 1:23.  Therefore, regardless of the meaning

            of the term in the OT context, in the NT Matthew’s usage of the Greek term

            parqenoz (parthenos) clearly indicates that from his perspective a virgin birth has

            taken place.

   25tn (7:14) Elsewhere the adjective äøä (harah), when used predicatively, refers to a past

            pregnancy (from the narrator’s perspective, 1 Sam 4:19), to a present condition (Gen

            16:11; 38:24; 2 Sam 11:5), and to a conception that is about to occur in the near

            future (Judg 13:5, 7). (There is some uncertainty about the interpretation of Judg 13:5,

            7, however.  See the notes to those verses.) In Isa 7:14 one could translate, “the

            young woman is pregnant.”  In this case the woman is probably a member of the royal

            family. Another option, the one chosen in the translation above, takes the adjective in

            an imminent future sense, “the young woman is about to conceive.”  In this case the

            woman could be a member of the royal family, or, more likely, the prophetess with

            whom Isaiah has sexual relations shortly after this (see 8:3).

   26tn (7:14) Heb “and you will call his name.”  The words “young lady” are supplied in the

            translation to clarify the identity of the addressee.  The verb is normally taken as an

            archaic third feminine singular form here, and translated, “she will call.”  However the

            form, úàø÷ (qarat) is more naturally understood as second feminine singular, in which

            case the words would be addressed to the young woman mentioned just before this.

            In the three other occurrences of the third feminine singular perfect of àø÷ì (liqro), “to

            call,” the form used is äàø÷ (qar’ah; see Gen 29:35; 30:26; 1 Chr 4:9). (A third

            feminine singular perfect úàø÷ does appear in Deut 31:29 and Jer 44:23, but the verb

            here is the homonym àø÷ì, “to meet, encounter.”) The form úàø÷ (from àø÷ì, “to call”)

            appears in three other passages (Gen 16:11; Isa 60:18; Jer 3:4 [Qere]) and in each

            case is second feminine singular.

   27tn (7:14) The name means, “God [is] with us.”

 

3.      Christian Translations:  Category II

 

Category II comprises translations of Isaiah 7:14 from five Christian Bibles in which the renditions of the noun  (almah) are generally inconsistent with Jewish versions.  This collection of Christian translations, including respective footnotes, is shown in Table II.B.3-1.

 

Table II.B.3-1 – Isaiah 7:14 as rendered by Christian sources – Category II

 

Source	Translation
American Standard Version (ASV)	Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Darby	Therefore will the Lord himself give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel.
King James Version (KJV)	Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
New International Version (NIV)*	Therefore the Lord himself will give you[1] a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and[2] will call him Immanuel[3].
Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)	Therefore the Lord Himself giveth to you a sign, Lo, the Virgin is conceiving, And is bringing forth a son, And hath called his name Immanuel,

* NIV footnotes:

[1] The Hebrew is plural.

[2] Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls and he or and they

[3] Immanuel means God with us.

 

4.      Comparisons of the Treatment of Key Hebrew Vocabulary

 

a.      Jewish Translations

 

The Jewish translations are consistent in correctly rendering the term  (ha'almah) [where the definite article  (ha-) is used with the noun  (almah)] as the young woman or the maiden, preserving the definite article in their renditions.  This indicates that the reference by Isaiah was to a specific young woman known to both him, the speaker, and to King Ahaz, the one being addressed.

 

The Jewish translations are generally consistent in their renditions of the tense of the conjugated verb  (harah) in this verse, though four of the five sources quoted in Table II.B.1-1 render the conjugated verb in the present tense as is with child (already pregnant), the ArtScroll Tanach has it in the future tense as shall become pregnant.  However, this is not a significant issue here, since a verb conjugated in the perfect tense, which is the case here with  (harah), can also be understood as describing an imminent action, something that is about to occur, in the near future.  Some Jewish Sages use this aspect of the perfect tense in their commentary (e.g., RASHI), and even the noted German grammarian and Christian theologian, H. W. F. Gesenius (1786-1842) makes note of such applications[1].

 

b.     Christian Translations

 

The Christian translations are generally inconsistent in their renditions of the term  (ha'almah) – some use the correct terminology for the noun itself, i.e., young woman or maiden, others use virgin; and some preserve the definite article, the, while others change it to the indefinite article, a.  In general, most modern Christian translators (generally, represented by Category I) have rendered the noun  (almah) correctly.

 

The Christian translations are generally inconsistent in their renditions of the tense of the conjugated verb  (harah) in this verse – some use the proper tense, while others treat the conception as an event that will take place in the (distant) future.

 

c.      Jewish Translations Compared with Christian Translations

 

Such comparison is not meaningful due to the diversity within each set of translations.  In general, most modern Christian translations are closer to the correct Jewish translations, i.e., those that render the noun  (ha'almah) as the young woman or the maiden, and  (harah) as is with child.  Older Christian translations generally use virgin, a term that would have required the Hebrew term for a virgin,  (b^etulah), without the definite article, to be in the original Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14.

 

C.    The Christian Perspective on Isaiah 7:14

 

The Christian perspective on Isaiah 7:14 is based on the following passage in the New Testament, where the conception and birth of Jesus are described:

 

Matthew 1:20-23(KJV) - (20) But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  (21) And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”  (22) Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, (23) “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,” which being interpreted is, “God with us.”

 

The relationship between this passage and the verse in Isaiah is established by the author in v. 23, which bears some resemblance to many Christian renditions of Isaiah 7:14.  The author of the Gospel of Matthew states in v. 22 that the very next verse is the fulfillment of a prophecy, namely, that Jesus (‘the Lord’) will be born of a virgin, and that the name Immanuel (‘G-d with us’) indicates that he is indeed ‘the Lord’.

 

The Christian interpretation of Isaiah 7:14 rests on the claim that it is a prophetic foretelling of the "Virgin Birth", the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus.  Consequently, this verse in the Hebrew Bible is a foundational element of the Christian doctrine of the "Virgin Birth".

 

D.    The Jewish Perspective on Isaiah 7:14

 

The seventh chapter in the Book of Isaiah begins by describing the military crisis that was confronting King Ahaz of the Kingdom of Judah.  Around the year 732 B.C.E., the House of David was facing imminent destruction at the hands of two warring kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel, led by King Peqah, and the Kingdom of Syria (Aram), led by King R^etsin. These two armies had besieged Jerusalem.  Isaiah records that the House of David and King Ahaz were gripped with fear.  G-d sent the prophet Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that divine protection was at hand – G-d would protect him and his kingdom and that their deliverance was assured, and these two hostile armies would fail in their attempt to subjugate Jerusalem.

 

It is clear from the narrative in this chapter, that Isaiah’s declaration (Is 7:14-16) was a prophecy about the unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem by the two armies from the north.  The verses Isaiah 7:15-16 state that, by the time this child (whose imminent birth was foretold in Isaiah 7:14) reaches the age of maturity (“… he knows to reject bad and choose good …”), the kings of the two enemy nations will be gone, in fact, they will be killed.  Two Biblical passages, 2 Kings 15:29-30 and 2 Kings 16:9, confirm that this prophecy was contemporaneously fulfilled when these two kings were assassinated.  With an understanding of the context of Isaiah 7:14 alone, it is evident that the name of the child in Isaiah 7:14, Immanu'el, is a sign which points to the divine protection that King Ahaz and his people would enjoy from their otherwise certain demise at the hands of these two enemies.  Clearly, Isaiah 7:14 is a near-term prophecy that is part of an historic narrative, and which was fulfilled in the immediate time frame, not some seven-and-a-half centuries in the future.

 

E.     Linguistic Expansions of the Hebrew Text of Isaiah 7:14

 

The highlighted words in Table II.A-1, terms about which there exist major disagreements between Christian translations and interpretations and the Jewish translations and interpretations, are now examined more closely

 

1.       (ot)

 

The various applications of the noun  in the Hebrew Bible are shown in Table II.E.1-1.

 

Table II.E.1-1 – Applications of  in the Hebrew Bible