Overview

Jerusalem, around 735 BC. Two armies threaten the Holy City to overthrow the dynasty of David. Ahaz, king of Judah, is consumed by fear and worry. Then the prophet Isaiah delivers his message: the 'alma is pregnant, she bears a son, and gives him the name Emmanuel. What is the meaning of the word 'alma? Without doubt more has been written on the interpretation of this term than on any other verse in the Old Testament. Is it a question of a virgin, as claimed by the fathers of the church, or of a young woman, as asserted by the majority of modern scholars?

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9781498230179

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Since the RSV translation (1952) there has been growing consensus that the term 'alma in Isaiah 7:14 should be translated 'young woman' instead of 'virgin.' Now the linguist Christophe Rico has presented an incisive analysis of this term from a modern linguistic perspective. The Septuagint scholar Peter Gentry has added further linguistic insights, all pointing to the result that the consensus view should be reversed and that 'virgin' is the correct translation! Groundbreaking! --Steve Kempf, Bible Translation Consultant, Wycliffe Bible Translators In the case of the Hebrew 'alma, what more can be said? Its usage in Isaiah 7:14 represents perhaps the single most discussed word in the history of biblical interpretation. While modern lexicography treats the meaning as settled, Rico and Gentry reopen this semantic cold case. The Mother of the Infant King, Isaiah 7:14 leads the reader on a linguistically-informed and philologically-cogent search for answers to the meaning of 'alma. This expansive study refreshes the state of the question, outlining the issues involved in this ancient quandary and framing a way forward through the complicated morass. --Chip Hardy, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Since the RSV translation (1952) there has been growing consensus that the term 'alma in Isaiah 7:14 should be translated 'young woman' instead of 'virgin.' Now the linguist Christophe Rico has presented an incisive analysis of this term from a modern linguistic perspective. The Septuagint scholar Peter Gentry has added further linguistic insights, all pointing to the result that the consensus view should be reversed and that 'virgin' is the correct translation! Groundbreaking! --Steve Kempf, Bible Translation Consultant, Wycliffe Bible Translators In the case of the Hebrew 'alma, what more can be said? Its usage in Isaiah 7:14 represents perhaps the single most discussed word in the history of biblical interpretation. While modern lexicography treats the meaning as settled, Rico and Gentry reopen this semantic cold case. The Mother of the Infant King, Isaiah 7:14 leads the reader on a linguistically-informed and philologically-cogent search for answers to the meaning of 'alma. This expansive study refreshes the state of the question, outlining the issues involved in this ancient quandary and framing a way forward through the complicated morass. --Chip Hardy, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Author Information

Linguist Christophe Rico has a doctorate in ancient Greek and holds the French official accreditation to direct PhD research. Member of the Faculty of the University of Strasbourg, he is Professor of Greek Philology at the Ecole Biblique of Jerusalem. Since 2011, he directs the Polis Institute at Jerusalem where ancient languages (Greek, Latin, biblical Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, classical Arabic) are taught through full immersion as living languages according to the ""Polis method."" Peter J. Gentry received his PhD from the University of Toronto in Septuagint and the ancient Near East in 1994; since 1999 he is Professor of Old Testament at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has edited Ecclesiastes for the Göttingen Septuaginta, co-authored Kingdom Through Covenant, and provides leadership for the Hexapla Institute.

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