Isaiah 7:14, the young woman [ha-almah] shall conceive, and bear a son

[Mannyfit75]

I have a question. Though I do not doubt my faith, can anyone explain why the original Hebrew in Isaiah 7:14 states the following,

“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”.

While the Septuagint translated it as,

Isaiah 7:14;

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young virgin (parthenos; Greek) shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el.

In the New Testament

Matthew 1:23,

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means “God is with us.”

Why was the Greek translation different from the original Hebrew?

 

[NotWorthy]

Chew on this from CatholicCulture.Org

the Septuagint uses parthenos to render Hebrew almah (which means a young woman, of the right age for marriage, who at least should be a virgin. Betulah is the more precise word for virgin). There are only two places in the OT where the Septuagint translates almah by parthenos. One is in Genesis 24:43, where the context shows the girl is a virgin. The other is Is 7:14. There are several other places where almah is at least likely to be a virgin. But the Septuagint is so careful that it uses instead of parthenos, a more general word, neanis in those cases… In all clear instances the Septuagint is very precise in its use of parthenos, at times more precise than the Hebrew (as shown by the context).

 

[Mannyfit75]

Chew on this from CatholicCulture.Org

Thanks.

 

[DRIVING_BEAR]

the word ha-almah should be translated as maiden in english

to convey that she is both young and a virgin

 

[NotWorthy]

the word ha-almah should be translated as maiden in english

to convey that she is both young and a virgin

I think you are half-right.

It generally means that she is young and should be a virgin. Maybe “probably is” would be a better term for “should be”.

 

[Cranch]

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.
I suppose there are those who, for whatever reason, have some interest in denying Isaiah here meant “virgin”; but am I being dumb in asking exactly what kind of sign a “young woman” conceiving and bearing a son would be? Doesn’t that happen every few minutes?

 

[NotWorthy]

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.
I suppose there are those who, for whatever reason, have some interest in denying Isaiah here meant “virgin”; but am I being dumb in asking exactly what kind of sign a “young woman” conceiving and bearing a son would be? Doesn’t that happen every few minutes?

The young woman was the King’s wife who had a child within a short period of time, and they named him Emmanuel. To the Jews, case closed - prophecy fulfilled.

What’s ironic is that the Jews that say this prophecy is not Messianic, acknowledge that the child in Isaiah 9:5-6 is Messianic** and they acknowledge that both prophecies are talking about the same child.**

***For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains By judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

---

 

[NotWorthy]

BTW, quick pop quiz,

1. Where is Jesus called Emmanuel?
2. Where was this pre-figured in the Old Testament?

3 days indulgence for the first right answer!

 

[Traditional_Ang]

I have a question. Though I do not doubt my faith, can anyone explain why the original Hebrew in Isaiah 7:14 states the following,

“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”.

While the Septuagint translated it as,

Isaiah 7:14;

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young virgin (parthenos; Greek) shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el.

In the New Testament

Matthew 1:23,

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means “God is with us.”

Why was the Greek translation different from the original Hebrew?

Mannyfit:

The Early Church accepted both the Hebrew and Greek versions of this passage in Isaiah to be divinely inspired. And, Most of the ECF believed that this passage was a “Double Prophecy”, one which was fulfilled once during the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians and again when Christ was born to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

There simply is no conflict, because the passage referred to 2 different events.

If you check with the Orthodox, I believe they’ll tell you the Orthodox Churches accept the Septuagent as the inspired word of God equal to the Hebrew Scriptures.

I hope that helps to resolve your question.

Your Brother in Christ, Michael