"Mighty God": titles of the child, or a sentence about God?
Christians have read the child of Isaiah 9 as the Messiah and the names (Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) as titles of Christ; the Aramaic Targum also calls the child "the Messiah". Jewish commentators read it differently: Rashi takes most of the name as a description of God, who names the royal child Hezekiah "prince of peace", while Ibn Ezra takes all of it as Hezekiah's name. The Hebrew verbs are in the perfect, the form used for completed action ("has been born"), and the Septuagint has only "Messenger of great counsel".
The verse
Text
BSBFor unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
KJVFor unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
JPSFor a child is born unto us, a son is given unto us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom;
After "and he called his name" come eight Hebrew words with no conjunctions; Gray's critical commentary (1912) judges that they "fall into four clauses, each containing two words closely connected". Christian translations divide them into four or five titles of the child: KJV "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"; BSB "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (NRSV likewise); the 1970 Catholic NAB "Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace", explaining "God-Hero" as "a warrior and a defender of his people, like God himself" and adding that "in Christian tradition and liturgy, this passage is used to refer to Christ". Calvin argues that ʾēl here "is evidently a proper name", since Isaiah adds gibbôr ("mighty") to it, and that the child is therefore called God, as in Immanuel (7:14). The same phrase ʾēl gibbôr names God in the next chapter (Isa 10:21). The critical commentator Gray judges that the arguments for weaker renderings ("god of a hero", "mighty hero") "scarcely justify a departure from the obvious rendering mighty God", while adding that such an attribution of divinity "is without clear analogy in the OT". Jehovah's Witnesses keep "Mighty God" for the child but distinguish it from "Almighty God". Jewish readings differ among themselves. JPS 1917 transliterates the words as a single name, "Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom". The JPS Tanakh (1985, unchanged in 2023) translates them as a sentence about God, "The Mighty God is planning grace; The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler"; Gray reports that Luzzatto read the name this way, as a sentence that, like Immanuel, says something about God "and therefore implying nothing as to the child". Rashi divides it differently again: God, "Who gives wondrous counsel, is a mighty God and an everlasting Father", names the child "the prince of peace". Ibn Ezra holds that "all these words are names of the child" Hezekiah, taking ʾēl gibbôr as "Mighty chief". The Targum, a Jewish Aramaic rendering, makes the child "the Messiah" and the titles mostly God's. The Septuagint has only "Messenger of great counsel" (Brenton notes that Codex Alexandrinus adds a list of titles). The Hebrew does not decide between these readings; theology and the reading of the whole passage do.11 sources11 sources1. this site's data2. Isaiah 10:213. Rashi4. Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 9:5 (Aramaic; English: The Chaldee Paraphrase on the Prophet Isaiah, 1871, revised)5. The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), and Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (JPS 1985), Isaiah 9:56. Ezra7. Gray 19128. New World Translation (Study Edition), study note on John 1:19. Doctrine 197010. NRSV (Anglicized), Isaiah 9:611. Calvin
How translations render it
“Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”
KJV
“Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”
BSB, WEB, ASV
“Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom”
JPS
“God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace”
The verbs are in the forms Hebrew normally uses for completed action: "a child has been born to us, a son has been given ... and he (or one) called his name". JPS 1917 ("is born ... is called"), NRSV ("has been born ... is named") and JPS 2023 ("has been born ... He has been named") keep that; the KJV mixes present and future ("is born ... shall be called"). Rashi reads the past literally: the child is Ahaz's son Hezekiah, "born to him many years ago". Calvin reads it as prophecy told in the past tense ("He speaks of future events in the past tense", on 9:2) and objects that the Hezekiah reading fails because "he had been born before this prediction was uttered". Critical scholarship has argued the same point from the grammar: Gray notes that the poem's verbs are "tenses naturally used in historical narrative", but because the situation fits no known circumstances he concludes: "It has therefore been widely and correctly held that the poem is, at least in part, prophetic." He reports the Hezekiah identification as "now generally and rightly abandoned" (in 1912). Gray left open whether the poem is Isaiah's own or later. He also notes that the active "he shall call" can be rendered as a passive, "his name shall be called", as most English Bibles do. This site's word-by-word line (STEPBible glosses) has "he will be born" and "he will be given": that future is the glossers' interpretation (the "prophetic perfect" reading), not a feature of the Hebrew form (morphology HVPp3ms, Pual perfect; HVNp3ms, Niphal perfect).5 sources5 sources12. this site's data3. Rashi13. Calvin14. Gray 191210. NRSV (Anglicized), Isaiah 9:6
Checked in this site's verse database: Tokens of Isa 9:6 (Heb 9:5) and edition notes↩How this was derivedtokens: std_ref='Isa.9.6' (native Isa.9.5) words 14–20: פֶּ֠לֶא 'a wonder', יוֹעֵץ֙ 'a counselor' HVqrmsa, אֵ֣ל 'God' {H0410G}, גִּבּ֔וֹר 'mighty', אֲבִי/עַ֖ד 'father of/ perpetuity', שַׂר 'prince of', שָׁלֽוֹם 'peace'. wlc Isa.10.21 אֶל־אֵ֖ל גִּבּֽוֹר. verse_notes: brenton Isa.9.6 footnote 'Alex. + Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty One, Potentate, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come'; darby footnote 'El'.
pp. 172–173, on 9:5 — 'The eight words of the name fall into four clauses, each containing two words closely connected ... some Jewish interpreters distribute the names among God and the child, e.g. "God who is marvellous in counsel, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, gave him the name Prince of Peace" (Rashi, Ki.: cp. ST); but Ibn Ezra rightly insisted that the whole eight words belonged to the child's name. Luzzatto treated the names as a sentence, predicating (like Immanuel, 7:14 n.) something of God, and therefore implying nothing as to the child.' On Mighty God: the evidence 'scarcely justify a departure from the obvious rendering mighty God'; 'This attribution of divinity, implying that the Messiah is to be a kind of demigod, is without clear analogy in the OT'. (Read in the archive.org OCR.)↩
14
pp. 165–166, introduction to 9:1–6 — 'Except in vv. [...] the tenses used throughout the poem are perfects and imperfects with waw conversive, i.e. tenses naturally used in historical narrative. But the situation described ... in no way corresponds to any known circumstances, and the name in v. [5] has no appearance of being one borne by an actual person. It has therefore been widely and correctly held that the poem is, at least in part, prophetic.' 'Many have held that the birth is historic, and that the poet refers in particular to the birth of Hezekiah; but this view is now generally and rightly abandoned.' On the date: 'The determination of the date and authorship of the poem must therefore turn on other considerations; but these, too, are unfortunately less decisive than could be desired.' (Hebrew verse numbers; verse numbers illegible in the archive.org OCR are shown as [...] or supplied in brackets from context.)↩
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (1970 OT), Isaiah 9 with notes, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1970) — Text 'They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.' Note [5]: 'In Christian tradition and liturgy, this passage is used to refer to Christ. ... God-Hero: a warrior and a defender of his people, like God himself.'↩
on Isa 9:6 — 'The mighty God. אל (El) is one of the names of God, though derived from strength, so that it is sometimes added as an attribute. But here it is evidently a proper name, because Isaiah is not satisfied with it, and in addition to it employs the adjective גבור, (gibbor,) which means strong.' And: 'The Jews apply it to God, and read it continuously, he shall call his name Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.'↩
13
on Isa 9:2 and 9:6 — On 9:2: 'He speaks of future events in the past tense'. On 9:6: 'The Jews impudently torture this passage, for they interpret it as relating to Hezekiah, though he had been born before this prediction was uttered.' And: 'Though יקרא, (yikra,) he shall call, be an active verb, I have not hesitated to translate it in a passive sense'.↩
Rashi, Rashi on Isaiah 9:5 (tr. A. J. Rosenberg, Judaica Press) — 'and...called his name The Holy One, blessed be He, Who gives wondrous counsel, is a mighty God and an everlasting Father, called Hezekiah’s name, “the prince of peace,” since peace and truth will be in his days.'
Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 9:5 (Aramaic; English: The Chaldee Paraphrase on the Prophet Isaiah, 1871, revised) — 'His name is called from before Him who is wonderful in counsel, the mighty God who liveth to eternity — the Messiah whose peace shall be great upon us in his days.' Aramaic: '... מְשִׁיחָא דִשְׁלָמָא יַסְגֵי עֲלָנָא בְּיוֹמוֹהִי'.
“The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), and Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (JPS 1985), Isaiah 9:5”, Sefaria — Both editions: 'For a child has been born to us, / A son has been given us. / And authority has settled on his shoulders. / He has been named / “The Mighty God is planning grace; / The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler”—'. The JPS footnote on 'grace' refers to Isa 25:1.
Abraham ibn Ezra, Commentary on Isaiah 9:5 (tr. M. Friedländer, 1873) — 'According to some, these expressions are names of God, and the following שר שלום, the name of the child. I think that all these words are names of the child ... אל גבור Mighty chief; for Hezekiah was powerful'. Hebrew: 'והנכון בעיני כי כל אלה שמו' הילד'.
George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, I–XXVII (International Critical Commentary), T. & T. Clark (1912), pp. 172–173, on 9:5 — 'The eight words of the name fall into four clauses, each containing two words closely connected ... some Jewish interpreters distribute the names among God and the child, e.g. "God who is marvellous in counsel, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, gave him the name Prince of Peace" (Rashi, Ki.: cp. ST); but Ibn Ezra rightly insisted that the whole eight words belonged to the child's name. Luzzatto treated the names as a sentence, predicating (like Immanuel, 7:14 n.) something of God, and therefore implying nothing as to the child.' On Mighty God: the evidence 'scarcely justify a departure from the obvious rendering mighty God'; 'This attribution of divinity, implying that the Messiah is to be a kind of demigod, is without clear analogy in the OT'. (Read in the archive.org OCR.)
“New World Translation (Study Edition), study note on John 1:1”, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society — 'Calling the Word “a god,” or “a mighty one,” would be in line with the prophecy at Isa 9:6, foretelling that the Messiah would be called “Mighty God” (not “Almighty God”)'.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (1970 OT), Isaiah 9 with notes, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1970) — Text 'They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.' Note [5]: 'In Christian tradition and liturgy, this passage is used to refer to Christ. ... God-Hero: a warrior and a defender of his people, like God himself.'
“NRSV (Anglicized), Isaiah 9:6” — 'For a child has been born for us ... and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' (British spelling 'Counsellor' in this edition.)
John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 (tr. William Pringle), on Isa 9:6 — 'The mighty God. אל (El) is one of the names of God, though derived from strength, so that it is sometimes added as an attribute. But here it is evidently a proper name, because Isaiah is not satisfied with it, and in addition to it employs the adjective גבור, (gibbor,) which means strong.' And: 'The Jews apply it to God, and read it continuously, he shall call his name Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.'
John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 (tr. William Pringle), on Isa 9:2 and 9:6 — On 9:2: 'He speaks of future events in the past tense'. On 9:6: 'The Jews impudently torture this passage, for they interpret it as relating to Hezekiah, though he had been born before this prediction was uttered.' And: 'Though יקרא, (yikra,) he shall call, be an active verb, I have not hesitated to translate it in a passive sense'.
George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, I–XXVII (International Critical Commentary), T. & T. Clark (1912), pp. 165–166, introduction to 9:1–6 — 'Except in vv. [...] the tenses used throughout the poem are perfects and imperfects with waw conversive, i.e. tenses naturally used in historical narrative. But the situation described ... in no way corresponds to any known circumstances, and the name in v. [5] has no appearance of being one borne by an actual person. It has therefore been widely and correctly held that the poem is, at least in part, prophetic.' 'Many have held that the birth is historic, and that the poet refers in particular to the birth of Hezekiah; but this view is now generally and rightly abandoned.' On the date: 'The determination of the date and authorship of the poem must therefore turn on other considerations; but these, too, are unfortunately less decisive than could be desired.' (Hebrew verse numbers; verse numbers illegible in the archive.org OCR are shown as [...] or supplied in brackets from context.)