Isaiah 7:14
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Isaiah 7:14 is a verse of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament that is often a point of contention between Christians and Jews. It is one of the few biblical references to the term Immanuel.
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[edit] Judaism and the Hebrew Bible
Judaism reads the verse in Isaiah 7:14 as:
- "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman [ha-almah] shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el". [1]
Judaism affirms that [ha-almah] ("young woman") does not refer to a virgin and that had the Tanakh intended to refer to such, the specific Hebrew word for virgin [bethulah] would have been used. This view is often disputed by Christians (see below), and has been a point of contention between Jews and Christians since the formation of the modern Church. Jerome, in 383 CE, wrote in "Adversus Helvidium" that Helvidius misunderstood just this same point of confusion between the Greek and the Hebrew.
[edit] Context of Isaiah 7:14 according to Judaism
Ahaz king of Jerusalem was besieged. Through Isaiah, God sends a message. Ahaz is reluctant to accept it, but is told he will get a sign. So Isaiah 7:10-17 states:
- And the LORD spoke again unto Ahaz, saying:
- 11 יא שְׁאַל-לְךָ אוֹת, מֵעִם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ; הַעְמֵק שְׁאָלָה, אוֹ הַגְבֵּהַּ לְמָעְלָה.
- 'Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God: ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.'
- 12 יב וַיֹּאמֶר, אָחָז: לֹא-אֶשְׁאַל וְלֹא-אֲנַסֶּה, אֶת-יְהוָה.
- But Ahaz said: 'I will not ask, neither will I try the LORD.'
- 13 יג וַיֹּאמֶר, שִׁמְעוּ-נָא בֵּית דָּוִד: הַמְעַט מִכֶּם הַלְאוֹת אֲנָשִׁים, כִּי תַלְאוּ גַּם אֶת-אֱלֹהָי.
- And he said: 'Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also?
- יד לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא, לָכֶם--אוֹת: הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה, הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן, וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ, עִמָּנוּ אֵל. 14
- Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
- 15 טו חֶמְאָה וּדְבַשׁ, יֹאכֵל--לְדַעְתּוֹ מָאוֹס בָּרָע, וּבָחוֹר בַּטּוֹב.
- Curd and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
- 16 טז כִּי בְּטֶרֶם יֵדַע הַנַּעַר, מָאֹס בָּרָע--וּבָחֹר בַּטּוֹב: תֵּעָזֵב הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה קָץ, מִפְּנֵי שְׁנֵי מְלָכֶיהָ.
- Yea, before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou hast a horror of shall be forsaken.
- יז יָבִיא יְהוָה עָלֶיךָ, וְעַל-עַמְּךָ וְעַל-בֵּית אָבִיךָ, יָמִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא-בָאוּ, לְמִיּוֹם סוּר-אֶפְרַיִם מֵעַל יְהוּדָה: אֵת, מֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר. {פ} 17
- The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria'.[2]
Thus Jews believe that God will send a "sign" in the days of Ahaz who lived many centuries before Jesus. Moreover, they claim that there is no indication that Immanuel will be the Messiah, whatever the timing of his birth. The Jewish tradition has accordingly never considered Isaiah 7:14 as a messianic prophecy. Modern Jewish scholars argue that this is a Christian innovation.
[edit] Hebrew translation
[edit] Meaning of “almah’”
The word almah is not used in Hebrew to refer to a virgin. The word for virgin is [betulah]. [3]
Jewish tradition states that the "young woman" was in fact Isaiah’s wife and the birth of the child is recorded later in Isaiah 8:3.
As an example of how '[almah] is used, in Proverbs 30:18-20:
- 18 There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
- 19 יט דֶּרֶךְ הַנֶּשֶׁר, בַּשָּׁמַיִם-- דֶּרֶךְ נָחָשׁ, עֲלֵי-צוּר;
- דֶּרֶךְ-אֳנִיָּה בְלֶב-יָם-- וְדֶרֶךְ גֶּבֶר בְּעַלְמָה
- The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock;
- the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a young woman.
- 20 כ כֵּן, דֶּרֶךְ אִשָּׁה-- מְנָאָפֶת
- אָכְלָה, וּמָחֲתָה פִיהָ; וְאָמְרָה, לֹא-פָעַלְתִּי אָוֶן
- So is the way of an adulterous woman;
- she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith: 'I have done no wickedness.'[4]
In this context it is argued, "the way of a man with a young woman," [alamah] does not appear to have the connotations of a virgin.
[edit] The article in “ha-almah’”
The word “ha” is generally translated as the definite article “the”. Some interpreters (e.g. the authors of the New English Translation) however believe that its use here means that the young woman was present to the conversation, and thus render “ha-almah’” as “this young woman”. That is taken to refer to either a member of the royal family or the “prophetess” mentioned in Isaiah 8.
[edit] Adjective “harah הָרָה ” and time of pregnancy
The adjective “harah הָרָה ” is used predicatively. From the narrator’s perspective, Jewish scholars argue that this generally means a past, or present, or imminent future pregnancy.[5] With that in mind, the translation of Isaiah 7:14 may also be rendered as either “the [or this] young woman is pregnant” or “the [or this] young woman will soon be pregnant”.
[edit] Naming of Immanuel
The verb "karat קָרָאת" has mostly been taken as an archaic form of the third feminine singular, and rendered as “she will name”. However, some interpreters think that it should be more naturally understood as a second feminine singular.[citation needed] If this was so, the passage could be rendered “and you [young woman] will call his name Immanuel”. The name itself, meaning “God [is] with us”, Judaism argues while noble, does not imply a divine nature of the boy.
[edit] Christian interpretation
The Christian interpretation of Immanuel in Isaiah 7:14 is based on the following scriptures in the Christian New Testament where the conception and birth of Jesus Christ are described:
(Matthew 1:20–23 KJV) 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.
Based on these scriptures many Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Immanuel prophesied of in Isaiah 7:14 and that He is "God with us". Many also believe that Jesus was born by means of a Virgin Birth and through the power of the Holy Spirit rather than through normal conception by man.
The modern Catholic perspective, from an entry in Catholic Encyclopedia, endorses a viewpoint that Luke, the writer of the gospel used a previous document that was written in, or inspired by a Hebrew text:
In point of fact the history of the infancy as found in the third Gospel [Luke] (1:5 to 2:52) betrays in its contents, its language, and style a Jewish-Christian source. The whole passage reads like a chapter from the First Book of Machabees; Jewish customs, and laws, and peculiarities are introduced without any further explanation; the "Magnificat", the "Benedictus", and the "Nunc dimittis" are filled with national Jewish ideas. As to the style and language of the history of the infancy, both are so thoroughly Semitic that the passage must be retranslated into Hebrew or Aramaic in order to be properly appreciated. We must conclude, then, that St. Luke's immediate source for the history of the infancy was not an oral, but a written one.[4]
Clearly, the Hebrew traditional usage of the passage should be considered in taking into account the Greek translation of the Hebrew text.
On translating the Greek Textus Receptus of Matthew 1:23, there is little problem in translating the Greek word "parthenos" as "virgin" which is the usual Greek word for virgin:
(Matthew 1:23 Greek Textus Receptus) [...] ιδού η παρθένος εν γαστρί έξει και τέξεται υιόν και καλέσουσιν το όνομα αυτού Εμμανουήλ ο έστιν μεθερμηνευόμενος μεθ' ημών ο Θεός.
It is from the transliteration of the Greek text that the spelling Emmanuel was introduced for the Hebrew name Immanuel.
Upon examination of the Greek Septuagint text at Isaiah 7:14 one can also find the word 'parthenos"("virgin") rather than the usual Greek word "neanis" for "young woman" strongly indicating that a Virgin Birth is prophesied of.
However, the use of the Hebrew word "almah" in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible has stirred controversy among a number of scholars and in fact has produced what is known as The Almah Controversy. This has resulted in variations between Bible translations,with some translations using "young woman" as does the New English Translation or NET Bible:
Isaiah 7:14 “For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.”
And a number of translations using the word "virgin" as does the King James Bible:
Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
[edit] Contemporary Languages other than English
Expanding the contemporary usage outside of only English, other modern languages can have a number of differing issues with the wordings in the translations to their language, or may even have a word with overlapping usage for "young woman" and "virgin" the same as the Hebrew word "almah".
As a notable example the text from the Luther Bible uses the German word "Jungfrau", which is composed literally of the words "young" and "woman", although it is common to use this word for "virgin". This ambiguity results in a similar reading to the original Hebrew in the text of Jesaja (Isaiah) 7:14. "Darum wird euch der HERR selbst ein Zeichen geben: Siehe, eine Jungfrau ist schwanger und wird einen Sohn gebären, den wird sie nennen Immanuel."[5] in English: "For this reason, the LORD himself will give to you(plural) a sign: See, a virgin/young woman is pregnant and will bear a son, whom she will name Immanuel."
