Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”, according to the NKJV. This same passage reads “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”, according to the LXX Septuagint. While Quoting Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us”, according to the NKJV. Many Christians point to this “virgin birth” as proof of Messianic prediction fulfilled by Yeshua. Is this a legitimate case of fulfilled prophecy? Is Isaiah 7:14 foreseeing the virgin birth of Yeshua? Is “virgin” even the best possible translation of the Hebrew word used in Isaiah 7:14?

The Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 is “ALMAH,” and its innate significance is “young lady.” “ALMAH” can signify “virgin,” as youthful unmarried women in antiquated Hebrew culture were thought to be virgins. Once more, however, the word does not really infer virginity. “ALMAH” happens multiple times in the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8; Psalm 68:25; Proverbs 30:19; Song of Solomon 1:3; 6:8; Isaiah 7:14). None of these occurrences requests the signifying “virgin,” yet neither do they preclude the conceivable significance from securing “virgin.” There is no decisive contention for “ALMAH” in Isaiah 7:14 being either “young lady” or “virgin.” However, it is intriguing to take note of, that in the third century B.C., when a board of Hebrew researchers and Jewish rabbis started the way toward making a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, they used the particular Greek word for virgin, “PARTHENOS,” not the more conventional Greek word for “young lady.” The Septuagint interpreters, 200 plus years before the birth of Messiah, and with no characteristic confidence in a “virgin birth,” deciphered “ALMAH” in Isaiah 7:14 as “virgin,” not “young lady.” This gives proof that “virgin” is a conceivable, even likely, which means of the term.

With all that stated, regardless of whether the signifying “VIRGIN” is credited to “ALMAH” in Isaiah 7:14, does that make Isaiah 7:14 a Messianic prophecy about Yeshua, as Matthew 1:23 declares? With regards to Isaiah chapter 7, the Aramites and Israelites were trying to overcome Jerusalem, and King Ahaz was dreadful. The Prophet Isaiah approaches King Ahaz and announces that Aram and Israel would not be effective in overcoming Jerusalem. The Lord offers Ahaz the chance to get a sign. God reacts by offering the hint Ahaz should search for, “the virgin will be pregnant and will bring forth a son…but before the child realizes enough to dismiss the wrong and pick the right, the place where there is the two rulers you fear will be ruined.” In this prophecy, God is basically saying that inside a couple of years’ time, Israel and Aram will be obliterated. At first glace, Isaiah 7:14 appears to have no association with a guaranteed virgin birth of the Messiah. However, the Apostle Matthew, while composing under the influence of the Holy Spirit, associates the virgin birth of Yeshua (Matthew 1

:23) with the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. Along these lines, Isaiah 7:14 ought to be understood as a “twofold prophecy,” alluding principally to the circumstance King Ahaz was confronting, while predicting the coming Messiah who will be a definitive deliverer of humanity and the Jewish people.

PRIMARY SOURCES:

• GOT QUESTIONS: https://www.gotquestions.net/Printer/virgin-young-woman-PF.html
• New King James Version
• LXX Septuagint