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NASB | Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us). [Is 9:6; Jer 31:22; Mic 5:3-5; Matt 1:22, 23] |
Subject: Stripping the Bible of Virgin |
Bible Note: More on Isaiah 7:14... I had originally posted that information as a post in 02/2002.. (Here is additional material that I have accumulated since then)... First off, I need to correct a few mistakes in the original post - I meant to say that "1) And let us not forget that the book of Matthew states that Jesus was born of a "virgin". (Matthew 1:23)" Also, the correct web site address for (2) Blue Letter Bible is http://www.blueletterbible.org).. Now for the additional material: The Hebrew word used for "virgin" here is 'almah' (al-maw' feminine of 5958; a lass (as veiled or private):--damsel, maid, virgin. see HEBREW for 05958). (1) 'Almah' is found in many places in the Bible: Genesis 24:43, Exodus 2:8, Psalm 68:25, Proverbs 30:19, Song of Solomon 1:3, 6:8, and of course, in Isaiah 7:14. (2) As for Isaiah 7:14, the NASB, NIV, KJV, ASV, Amplified, ESV, NKJV, CEV, 1889 Darby Bible, Douay-Rheims, MKJV, LITV, 1898 YLT, 1833 Webster Bible, The World English Bible, GOD'S WORD, HNV, RNKJV, Rotherham Bible, ACV, AKJV, and New American Bible all translate 'almah' in this passage as "virgin." The RSV, 1965 Bible in Basic English, NRSV, TEV, Jewish Publication Society OT, New Jerusalem Bible, and Revised English Bible all translate the word 'almah' as "young woman" in Isaiah 7:14. I believe that this verse is Messianic and should retain the English word "virgin" in this passage, since the child that is mentioned will be named "Immanuel" which means, 'God with us.' The Greek equivalent to 'almah' is "parthenos", which means "of unknown origin; a maiden; by implication, an unmarried daughter:--virgin." (1) As for the other occurrences of "almah" in the Bible, using whichever Bible version that you prefer, you can see a variety of English words that are used in each passage for the Hebrew word "almah." Sometimes it reads 'maiden', other times it reads 'virgin', or even 'damsel.' So I come to the conclusion that the translators of the RSV, NRSV, The Bible in Basic English, TEV, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible and Jewish Publication Society OT were striving more for 'consistency' in translating this Hebrew word, rather than adhering to the tradition. However, I say this even while I fully agree that Isaiah 7:14 is Messianic. But if we only had the RSV, New Jerusalem Bible, etc.. to go by, we still know without any doubt that Jesus was born of a virgin by reading Luke 1:26-38 and Matthew 1:18-25. Blessings to you, Makarios Note: MKJV - Modern King James Version, ACV - A Conservative Version, CEV - Contemporary English Version, AKJV - American King James Version, RNKJV - Restored Names King James Version, HNV - Hebrew Names Version of the World English Bible, TEV - Today's English Version |