Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT nis.za>]

shella wrote:

> <snip>
> 10. What I seem to see developing is there is no known Hebrew text of Isaiah
> which does support the virgin birth of the Messiah founded upon Isaiah
> 7:14.   The M T Isaiah 7:14 supports the YOUNG WOMAN concept, but not the
> Virgin only concept as the LXX and later the Greek New Testament does.
>

If you look in a decent Greek lexicon you'll see that parthenos need not mean 
"virgin"
in the technical sense of a woman who has not had sexual relations.  Ditto 
the Latin
"virgo."  The Hebrew na`arah would mean young woman; `almah (the Hebrew in 
Isa 7:14),
like bethulah, would probably bear the connotation of "virgin" but is not a 
technical
word for virgin (which as far as I can tell could only be conveyed by the 
expression
"she has not known a man").

It is the juxtaposition of "`almah" and "pregnant" in the context of a really 
big sign
(as high as heaven or as deep as Sheol) that suggests the idea that the 
miracle is a
virgin conception.  There's zero reason to suspect the Hebrew text.

Regards,
John