Mary really was a virgin, I promise.

You can’t pit one language against another and expect it to work.

I keep seeing this argument pop up, and I find it both obnoxious and very ignorant. The argument is that Mary wasn’t actually a virgin, and this “discredits” the Bible.

This all comes down to two verses getting pitted against one another.

Isaiah vs Matthew — Let’s look at both verses in question.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,” Isaiah 7:14 (Hebrew)

“But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Matthew 1:25 (Greek)

Isaiah, apparently, your word choice didn’t make some people happy.

“But Matthew quotes Isaiah.”

I guess I should start with the obvious. Matthew did not quote Isaiah, we can see that just from scripture alone. The reason I need to point this out is that is the very first thing I see that is latched onto in this argument and used as its foundation.

The problem with this “foundation”

According to those who hold this belief (that Mary was not a virgin), this supposed quoting by Matthew of Isaiah discredits Matthew, and therefore “discredits” the Bible.

All because Isaiah didn’t use what some consider to be the “correct” word (virgin) some 700 years before Jesus’s birth, and was written in Hebrew to boot.

If you're wondering what word I’m talking about, Isaiah used the word “almah” (hā·‘al·māh), and we definitely will be circling back to that word at the end in detail. There’s more to that word than meets the eye, and I’ll show you what these debaters don’t want you to see.

Things conveniently disappear.

Within this argument, I always see key verses conveniently go poof and disappear when just these two verses are pitted against each other in the “virgin” argument.

What verses would those be?

“to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” Luke 1:27 Translation Breakdown.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:34 Translation Breakdown.

Those are some pretty strong and confident words there. Unless you're going to tell me the young woman God chose to be Jesus’s mother was secretly a liar, and God didn’t see that?

This argument may appear to be strong until you look at everything else, then it loses all creditably.

When you want to hold onto a single word so hard and try to use it to “discredit” the Bible, you need to look at all of the Scriptures as well as have the decorum to learn what the word meant back then and to that culture.

Chapters, verses, and page numbers are amazing, and we definitely need them at times. But the Bible originally did not have that for a reason. I know I’m going a wee bit off-script here, but hear me out.

1227 and 1382.

Those are the dates when chapters and verses were introduced. Before that, the Bible was read and understood as a whole. It’s absolutely fine to pick a verse and use it. I just did. 👆 But you can’t use that one single verse and attempt to build an entire argument without knowing the rest of the Bible.

That’s just plain cherry-picking to “prove” your belief. Every word, verse, story, etc., is connected in the Bible, and that’s why it’s so challenging; we have to look at all the other chapters, verses, and words to help us understand fully.

I went way off script there, sorry about that, but it is true. We can’t take one verse or, in this case, one word and build an entire argument from it simply because we want to “discredit” the Bible. And for reference, no, I am not a Catholic on some crusade to save Mary’s reputation.

I’m here to correct and provide details to consider before believing this argument. Below is more detail on the word “almah.”

Remember, the Hebrew language is nothing like ours, we simply cannot apply our root language to theirs and expect a healthy outcome.

Virgin | Young Woman | Maiden

So the reason there is a fit over this word is because in Hebrew, this is the word used in reference to a young woman of martial age, verses directly being a word that is defined as “virgin.” “The Greek equivalent often associated with “almah” is παρθένος (parthenos), which explicitly means “virgin.”

This is notably used in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 7:14 and in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 1:23.”

The term “almah” refers to a young woman of marriageable age, often implying virginity, though not explicitly stating it. In the context of ancient Hebrew culture, an “almah” would typically be a young, unmarried woman who is presumed to be a virgin, though the term itself does not exclusively mean ‘virgin.’”

This next section is why it’s very important to understand the culture when translating a difficult language.

“Cultural and Historical Background: In ancient Israelite society, the status of a young woman was closely tied to her family and community. The term “almah” reflects a stage in a woman’s life before marriage, where she is seen as pure and eligible for marriage. The cultural expectation was that an “almah” would be a virgin, as premarital chastity was highly valued.”

Isaiah was a Hebrew, he used the word that was associated and known to mean virginity. Matthew is in Greek. A completely different language, and the word choice used was not wrong, nor does it disprove anything.

A doctor does not look at a rash and diagnose anything until they ask questions. We should be doing this, too, especially when exploring topics that want to discredit the Bible.

First published in Never Stop Writing

© Jane Isley

If you enjoy my work and it has inspired a reevaluation of Scripture, touched your heart, or brought hope and a closer relationship with God, please consider supporting my work.

I am what I would call a self-supporting writer; your support would be greatly appreciated.

Buy me a cup of tea.

🍵