Isaiah 7:14, Born of a Virgin

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

//In this chapter, Isaiah speaks to King Ahaz, offering a sign from God. Ahaz wishes not to “put God to the test,” but Isaiah provides a sign anyhow, telling the king that God will save them from the present military threat of “two kings.” All this will happen soon; before a certain young woman’s son (presumably one who is currently pregnant) will be old enough to discern good from evil.

The identity of this young woman is undisclosed. Some scholars suggest it is Isaiah’s wife. Some take the coming child to be the crown prince, son of Ahaz. Others think it may have simply been a pregnant woman whom Isaiah noticed as he was addressing the king.

So that’s the scene of what’s going on in Ahaz’s court that day in the eighth century B.C. But the real story behind this verse comes much later. Let me first emphasize that the phrase which describes the pregnant mother, here in the NSRV and almost all other modern translations, is “young woman.” The Hebrew word ‘alma’ is neutral with regard to marital status or sexual experience. But when the Hebrew was translated into Greek six hundred years later, the phrase “young woman” inexplicably became “virgin.”

Fast forward two hundred more years, where Matthew, reading the Greek version of Isaiah, decides to apply this scripture to Jesus. Rumors of Jesus’ miraculous birth had already begun (Luke also tells a virgin-birth story, though it differs in fundamental ways), and Matthew loves to quote scripture to bolster his story.

Matthew 1:23—“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel"

Never mind the context and immediacy of Isaiah’s prophecy. Never mind that Mary never named her son Immanuel. Matthew repeated the Greek mistranslation, and the above quotation from Isaiah suddenly grew into one of the most popular verses in Christian history.