The Young Woman of Isaiah 7:14
A Jewish day-school class is comparing translations of Isaiah 7:14. The NJPS renders 'Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.' A Christian study Bible in the school library renders 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' A student points out that the Septuagint has parthenos, the Greek word for a virgin. The teacher is asked: 'Does the Hebrew almah mean virgin, or is the Christian Bible mistranslating? And why do the Jewish commentaries read it so differently?' The class includes students from Orthodox, Conservative, and secular homes, and the school has a policy of teaching comparative religion respectfully. The teacher wants to avoid both a superficial 'they changed it' answer and a syncretistic one that erases the Jewish reading.
1. Explain the lexical evidence for almah and betulah, and assess whether 'virgin' is a defensible translation.
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Almah occurs seven times in the Hebrew Bible (Gen 24:43; Exod 2:8; Ps 68:26; Prov 30:19; Song 1:3; Song 6:8; Isa 7:14). In those contexts it denotes a young woman of marriageable age; virginity is often implied by the narrative (Rebekah, Miriam), but it is not the word's lexical definition. Betulah is the more specific Hebrew term for a virgin, though it too can be used more broadly.
The Septuagint's parthenos is a translation choice that narrows the semantic range; it may reflect an interpretive tradition. So the Christian rendering 'virgin' is not a baseless invention, but it is not the only possible translation. NJPS's 'young woman' is lexically defensible and fits the immediate context of a sign to Ahaz. The teacher should say that translation is interpretation, not that one side simply fabricated a meaning.
2. Set the verse in its historical context and explain how Rashi and Ibn Ezra read it.
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The setting is the Syro-Ephraimite crisis (c. 734-732 BCE). Ahaz of Judah faces an alliance of Aram and Israel; Isaiah offers a sign that the threat will fail. The child named Immanuel ('God is with us') is a time-marker: before the child knows good and evil, the land of the two kings will be abandoned (Isa 7:16).
The identity of the child is not specified. Classical Jewish exegetes read the sign as contemporary, often identifying the child with Hezekiah or with a son of the prophet or of Ahaz. Rashi and Ibn Ezra focus on the plain sense and the immediate political crisis. The Christian reading in Matt 1:23 is a later typological application, not a lexical definition of almah. The teacher should distinguish 'What did Isaiah mean to Ahaz?' from 'How did later communities read the verse?'
3. Advise the teacher on handling the Christological reading in a Jewish classroom without misrepresenting the other tradition.
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Begin with the Hebrew text and the ancient context, then show how translations embody interpretive choices. Let students compare NJPS, a Christian translation, and the Septuagint. Explain that parthenos is a legitimate Greek rendering in the Septuagint's own tradition, and that Matthew quotes the Greek. Do not say 'they changed the Bible'; say 'they read it through a different interpretive lens.' At the same time, do not present the Christian reading as the obvious meaning of the Hebrew.
The Jewish reading is the plain historical sense: a sign to Ahaz. The Christian reading is a fulfillment reading. A respectful comparative lesson can show that both traditions care about the text, and that translation is never neutral. Close by asking students to identify what each reading emphasizes: Jewish exegesis emphasizes the immediate covenant crisis; Christian exegesis emphasizes continuity and fulfillment.