Isaiah 7:14 Virgin or Young woman?
Written on 20130611
Isaiah 7:14 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.
In the Great Isaiah Scroll from the DSS, the word translated as "virgin" is "ha'almah" which actually means a young woman rather than an unmarried maiden.
It is often argued that the word "ha'almah" in Isaiah 7:14 should have been translated as "young woman" instead of "virgin". This because the Hebrew word for virgin is "betulah" and not "ha'almah"
People who question the validity of rendering ha'almah as "virgin", and the use of this verse as a Messianic prophecy (see Matthew 1:22-23), point out the fact that in Isaiah chapter 7, Isaiah was prophesying about the birth of a child by the young woman was a sign to King Ahaz that his enemies King Pekah and King Rezin would be defeated at the hands of God. Thus it should not be construed as a miraculous virgin birth.
Why then is this verse referred to as a prophecy of the unmarried Mary, a maiden being chosen to bear the Son of God, in Matthew chapter 1?
Matthew 1:22,23
"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 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."
Why did the Greek text use the word παρθένος (parthenos=virgin) in quoting Isaiah 7:14?
A better understanding of the rationale for the use of the term "virgin" here can be obtained by looking at two other instances where ha'almah occurs in the TaNaKh, as follows:
Genesis 24:43 KJV Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin (ha'almah) cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink
Although some English translations like the NIV and NET renders this word as "young woman" rather than "virgin", the context of this account seems to tell us that those were unmarried young women who came to draw water.
Likewise,
Exodus 2:8 KJV
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid (ha'almah) went and called the child's mother.
This account is even more obvious than the one in Genesis 24:43 in using ha'almah to depict a girl or a maiden, in this case the little girl is the sister of baby Moses.
One must also note that the Septuagint also renders ha'almah as "virgin" (parthenos) in Isaiah 7:14.
Isaiah 7:14 LXX
διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ εμμανουηλ (Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.)
To me, Matthew 1:23,24 is not a mistranslation or misinterpretation of Isaiah 7:14. It is an event that happened "according to the Scriptures"
