Isaiah 7:14

In picking a version of the bible Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the [young woman/virgin] shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." has been used as a test case for liberal vs. conservative translation. The argument can be summarized very quickly:

• The word used in all Hebrew manuscripts is almah.
• In Hebrew the word almah means young woman. It has no connotation of a woman that has never had sex, and is used in some literature to refer to a prostitute.
• The Hebrew word for virgin is betulah
• Matthew 1:23 uses the word parthenos which does mean virgin
  
• In the Greek the word TR text the word in Greek (which appears in some LXX virgins is parthenos).
• When Isaiah wants to refer to virgins he uses betulah: 23:4, 23:12, 37:22, 47:1 and 62:5.
  

So the traditional rendering is virgin and the "accurate" rendering is young woman. For those who disagree there are many counter examples, for example in Proverbs 30:18-20 alma is used for a young woman after the act of adultery. For a good discussion of this issue see wikipedia. For a traditional Christian discussion Marlowe's critique of the Net Bible provides a counter argument. Rabbi Tovia Singer provides a Jewish critique of the traditional Christian translation. For people of a less conservative bent Isaiah 7:14 provides a simple test of accuracy in a translation. Any bible using virgin is going to be suspect since it implies the translators are putting tradition above accuracy and deliberately mistranslating.

So I've decided to separate the translations into four groups based on how they handle this verse. And interestingly enough this simple test does an excellent job of creating a continuum from traditional but less accurate to more accurate and less traditional translations (from a Christian perspective).

The goal of this is to provide a reference for the translations out there classified this way. Please feel free to comment with additional translations. In terms of discipline church that discipline generally use more traditional translations, the more accurate ones can be helpful in providing alternate explanations and interpretations.

Bibles that use virgin (traditional)

• Classical
  
  • LXXM (Septuagint):δια τουτο δωσει κυριος αυτος υμιν σημειον ιδου η παρθενος (paryenov=virgin) εν γαστρι εξει και τεξεται υιον και καλεσεις το ονομα αυτου Εμμανουηλ
  • Vulgate: propter hoc dabit Dominus ipse vobis signum ecce virgo (virgin) concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitis nomen eius Emmanuhel
• King James Family
  
  • KJV (King James Version): Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  • NKJV (New King James Version): Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel
  • 21KJ (21st Century King James Version): Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
• English Revised Version family
  
  • ASV (American Standard Version): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  • ESV (English Standard Version): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  • NASB (New American Standard): 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.
  • RcV (Recovery Version): Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.
  
  
• NIV Family
  
  • NIV (New International): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
  • NIrV (New International Reader's): The Lord himself will give you a miraculous sign. The virgin is going to have a baby. She will give birth to a son. And he will be called Immanuel.
• 19th century
  
  • Darby: Therefore will the Lord himself give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel.
  • YLT (Young's Literal): Therefore the Lord Himself giveth to you a sign, Lo, the Virgin is conceiving, And is bringing forth a son, And hath called his name Immanuel,
  
  
• Paraphrase:
  
  • GW (God's Word): So the Lord himself will give you this sign: A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and she will name him Immanuel [God Is With Us].
• Other:
  
  • HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible): Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
  • Douay-Rheims Bible 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.
    
  • NETS (based on LXX) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Look, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son and you shall name him Emmanouel.  

Bibles that use virgin but at least footnote young woman (middle position)

• CEV (Contemporary English Version) But the LORD will still give you proof. A virgin [a] is pregnant; she will have a son and will name him Immanuel.
  Footnote: Isaiah 7:14 virgin: Or "young woman." In this context the difficult Hebrew word did not imply a virgin birth. However, in the Greek translation made about 200 (B.C. )and used by the early Christians, the word parthenos had a double meaning. While the translator took it to mean "young woman," Matthew understood it to mean "virgin" and quoted the passage (Matthew 1.23) because it was the appropriate description of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
• NCV (New Century Version): The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin[a] will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name him Immanuel.[b]
  Footnote: virgin The Hebrew word means "a young woman." Often this meant a girl who was not married and had not yet had sexual relations with anyone.
• TNIV (Today's New International Version): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin [b] will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
  Footnote: Or young woman
  
• NAB (New American Bible): Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
  Footnote: [14] The sign proposed by Isaiah was concerned with the preservation of Judah in the midst of distress (cf Isaiah 7:15, 17), but more especially with the fulfillment of God's earlier promise to David (2 Sam 7:12-16) in the coming of Immanuel (meaning, "With us is God") as the ideal king (cf Isaiah 9:5-6; 11:1-5). The Church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known the full force latent in his own words; and some Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke, would have been a young, unmarried woman (Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing, however, for another Nativity which alone could fulfill the divinely given terms of Immanuel's mission, and in which the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God was to fulfill also the words of this prophecy in the integral sense intended by the divine Wisdom.
• NLT (New Living): All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin [F16] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
  Footnote: [F16] F16: Or young woman.

Bibles that try and have it both ways

• AMP (Amplified Bible): Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us]
• MSG (The Message): Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She'll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us).
• NLV (New Life): So the Lord Himself will give you a special thing to see: A young woman, who has never had a man, will give birth to a son. She will give Him the name Immanuel.
• Luther's Bible: Darum wird euch der HERR selbst ein Zeichen geben: Siehe, eine Jungfrau (young woman with strong hint of virgin) ist schwanger und wird einen Sohn gebären, den wird sie nennen Immanuel*.
  

Bibles that use young woman (accurate)

• Jewish:
  
  • Masoretic Text: לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא, לָכֶם--אוֹת: הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה (bold is almah = young woman), הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן, וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ, עִמָּנוּ אֵל.
  • ART (Artscroll): Therefore, my Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the maiden will become pregnant and bear a son, and she will name him Immanuel.
  • CJB (Complete Jewish--Messianic Jewish): Therefore Adonai himself will give you people a sign: the young woman will become pregnant, bear a son and name him 'Immanu El [God is with us].
  • JPS (Jewish Publication Society Tanakh): Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  • NJPS (New Jewish Publication Society of America): Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him, Immanuel.
    
• RSV Family:
  
  • RSV (Revised Standard Version): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el.
  • NRSV (New Revised Standard Version): Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
  • NWT (New World): Therefore Jehovah himself will give YOU men a sign: Look! The maiden herself will actually become pregnant, and she is giving birth to a son, and she will certainly call his name Im·man´u·el.
• NEB Family:
  
  • NEB (New English Bible): Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and will call him Immanuel.
  • REB(Revised English Bible) Because you do, the Lord of his own accord will give you a sign; it is this: A young woman is with child, and she will give birth to a son and call him Immanuel.
• Jerusalem Bible Family:
  NJB (New Jerusalem Bible): Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman[g] is with child, and she will bear a son, and shall call his name ‘Immanu-el’.
Footnote: Gk reads the 'the virgin', being more explicit then the Hebr which uses 'almah, meaning either a young girl or a recently married woman. The LXX reading is, however an important witness to an early Jewish interpretation, adopted by the evangelist: Mt 1:23 understands the text to be a prophecy of the virginal conception of Jesus.
• Easy to read
  
  • GNT (Good News) (TEV Today's English Version): Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman F11 who is pregnant will have a son and will name him "Immanuel.
    Footnote: F11: young woman: [The Hebrew word here translated "young woman" is not the specific term for "virgin," but refers to any young woman of marriageable age. The use of "virgin" in Mt 1.23 reflects a Greek translation of the Old Testament, made some 500 years after Isaiah.]
  • BBE (Bible in Basic English): For this cause the Lord himself will give you a sign; a young woman is now with child, and she will give birth to a son, and she will give him the name Immanuel.
• NET (New English Translation) For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman 3 is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.
  Footnote: Traditionally, “virgin.” Because this verse from Isaiah is quoted in Matt 1:23 in connection with Jesus’ birth, the Isaiah passage has been regarded since the earliest Christian times as a prophecy of Christ’s virgin birth. Much debate has taken place over the best way to translate this Hebrew term, although ultimately one’s view of the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is unaffected. Though the Hebrew word used here (עַלְמָה, ’almah) can sometimes refer to a woman who is a virgin (Gen 24:43), it does not carry this meaning inherently. The word is simply the feminine form of the corresponding masculine noun עֶלֶם (’elem, “young man”; cf. 1 Sam 17:56; 20:22). The Aramaic and Ugaritic cognate terms are both used of women who are not virgins. The word seems to pertain to age, not sexual experience, and would normally be translated “young woman.” The LXX translator(s) who later translated the Book of Isaiah into Greek sometime between the second and first century b.c., however, rendered the Hebrew term by the more specific Greek word παρθένος (parqenos), which does mean “virgin” in a technical sense. This is the Greek term that also appears in the citation of Isa 7:14 in Matt 1:23. Therefore, regardless of the meaning of the term in the OT context, in the NT Matthew’s usage of the Greek term παρθένος clearly indicates that from his perspective a virgin birth has taken place.
• CHES (Concordant Hebrew English Sublinear) therefore he-shall-give my-Lord he to-you sign behold! the-damsel pregnant-one and*one-giving-birth son and*she-calls name-of-him Immanuel.