Isaiah Predicts a Virgin Will Give Birth

In the middle of a political crisis — two enemy kings advancing on Jerusalem — Isaiah delivers a sign from God to the terrified King Ahaz: 'The Lord himself will give you a sign: The young woman will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.' The original Hebrew word is 'almah' — young woman of marriageable age. When translated into Greek for the Septuagint, 'almah' became 'parthenos' — virgin. Seven centuries later, Matthew quotes this verse to explain the birth of Jesus. A single word, in a moment of political turmoil, became the most contested translation in Western history.