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Isaiah 7:14

Context
7:14 For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. 1  Look, this 2  young woman 3  is about to conceive 4  and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him 5  Immanuel. 6 

Isaiah 13:8

Context

13:8 They panic –

cramps and pain seize hold of them

like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.

They look at one another in astonishment;

their faces are flushed red. 7 

Isaiah 23:4

Context

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea 8  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” 9 

Isaiah 37:3

Context
37:3 “This is what Hezekiah says: 10  ‘This is a day of distress, insults, 11  and humiliation, 12  as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. 13 

Isaiah 46:3

Context

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, 14 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, 15 

you who have been carried from birth, 16 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. 17 

Isaiah 49:1

Context
Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 18 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; 19 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 20 

Isaiah 51:2

Context

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth. 21 

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, 22 

but I blessed him 23  and gave him numerous descendants. 24 

Isaiah 59:4

Context

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; 25 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words 26  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression 27 

and give birth to sin.

Isaiah 66:9

Context

66:9 “Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?”

asks the Lord.

“Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?”

asks your God. 28 

1 tn The Hebrew term אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) can refer to a miraculous event (see v. 11), but it does not carry this sense inherently. Elsewhere in Isaiah the word usually refers to a natural occurrence or an object/person vested with special significance (see 8:18; 19:20; 20:3; 37:30; 55:13; 66:19). Only in 38:7-8, 22 does it refer to a miraculous deed that involves suspending or overriding natural laws. The sign outlined in vv. 14-17 involves God’s providential control over events and their timing, but not necessarily miraculous intervention.

2 tn Heb “the young woman.” The Hebrew article has been rendered as a demonstrative pronoun (“this”) in the translation to bring out its force. It is very likely that Isaiah pointed to a woman who was present at the scene of the prophet’s interview with Ahaz. Isaiah’s address to the “house of David” and his use of second plural forms suggests other people were present, and his use of the second feminine singular verb form (“you will name”) later in the verse is best explained if addressed to a woman who is present.

3 tn 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.

4 tn Elsewhere the adjective הָרָה (harah), when used predicatively, refers to a past pregnancy (from the narrator’s perspective, 1 Sam 4:19), to a present condition (Gen 16:11; 38:24; 2 Sam 11:5), and to a conception that is about to occur in the near future (Judg 13:5, 7). (There is some uncertainty about the interpretation of Judg 13:5, 7, however. See the notes to those verses.) In Isa 7:14 one could translate, “the young woman is pregnant.” In this case the woman is probably a member of the royal family. Another option, the one followed in the present translation, takes the adjective in an imminent future sense, “the young woman is about to conceive.” In this case the woman could be a member of the royal family, or, more likely, the prophetess with whom Isaiah has sexual relations shortly after this (see 8:3).

5 tn Heb “and you will call his name.” The words “young lady” are supplied in the translation to clarify the identity of the addressee. The verb is normally taken as an archaic third feminine singular form here, and translated, “she will call.” However the form (קָרָאת, qarat) is more naturally understood as second feminine singular, in which case the words would be addressed to the young woman mentioned just before this. In the three other occurrences of the third feminine singular perfect of I קָרָא (qara’, “to call”), the form used is קָרְאָה (qarah; see Gen 29:35; 30:6; 1 Chr 4:9). A third feminine singular perfect קָרָאת does appear in Deut 31:29 and Jer 44:23, but the verb here is the homonym II קָרָא (“to meet, encounter”). The form קָרָאת (from I קָרָא, “to call”) appears in three other passages (Gen 16:11; Isa 60:18; Jer 3:4 [Qere]) and in each case is second feminine singular.

6 sn The name Immanuel means “God [is] with us.”

7 tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

8 tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (maoz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

9 tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

sn The sea is personified here as a lamenting childless woman. The foreboding language anticipates the following announcement of Tyre’s demise, viewed here as a child of the sea, as it were.

10 tn In the Hebrew text this verse begins with “they said to him” (cf. NRSV).

11 tn Or “rebuke” (KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “correction.”

12 tn Or “contempt”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “disgrace.”

13 tn Heb “when sons come to the cervical opening and there is no strength to give birth.”

14 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

15 tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

16 tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

17 tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

18 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

sn The Lord’s special servant, introduced in chap. 42, speaks here of his commission.

19 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

20 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

21 sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

22 tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

23 tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

24 tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”

25 tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

26 tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

27 tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

28 sn The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “Of course not!”



TIP #08: Use the Strong Number links to learn about the original Hebrew and Greek text. [ALL]
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