Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14 · King James Version
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Virgin or young woman?
Hebrew הָעַלְמָה (hāʿalmâ) · Septuagint Greek ἡ παρθένος (hē parthenos)
Isaiah's Hebrew word ʿalmâ means a young woman of marriageable age; the Greek Septuagint rendered it parthenos ("virgin"), and Matthew 1:23 quotes that Greek to read the sign as fulfilled in Mary. The sign was first given to King Ahaz, with a timeline in his own day (7:16), so Christian readers speak of its fullest fulfilment in Christ. Older and many Christian Bibles say "virgin"; Jewish and several modern versions, including the Catholic NABRE, "young woman".
The Hebrew word ʿalmâ does not by itself specify virginity, and the sign was addressed to King Ahaz with a timeline (7:16) inside his lifetime; "virgin" comes from the Septuagint's parthenos, which Matthew 1:23 quotes. Translations split along that line (KJV "a virgin", JPS and the Catholic NABRE "the young woman"); which is "right" depends on whether one reads the verse only in Isaiah's setting or also through Matthew, and the lexical facts are the same either way.
