ISAIAH 7:14

Is. 7:14 לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא לָכֶם אוֹת
הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן
וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ עִמָּנוּ אֵל׃

Is. 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign
Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel

NASB translates as an indefinite article ‘a virgin’; however, the prefix הָ in the Hebrew text shows that it is a definite article ‘the maidservant’ (not just any maidservant).

   Some Insights

Insight No 1

עִמָּ  

   this word (with the qamats and pronounced as ‘im’) is simply the preposistion, ‘with 

  נוּ

       this is a pronominal suffix for the first persons common plural

                     First persons = referring to ourselves. (if singular, it’s ‘I’ or ‘me’, but if it              

'is plural, it is ‘we’ or ‘u

                     Common = both gender = male and female included. In Hebrew, it is                  

.very specific – either male or female

אֵל 

This is just a common name used for God

So, this is why Immanuel means, “God with us” and the common pronoun refers to all

   men and women. No one is excluded from God’s Kingdom 

Insight 2

הָעַלְמָה
In Hebrew,  הָ is the definite article. So, when you add the definite article הָ to the word עַלְמָה, you have what we would say in English, ‘the virgin’. One reading the text in English may not notice the significance of the הָ in this word but in Hebrew, we know it refers to the chosen woman. God did not use any woman, but God use Mary whom He had chosen

Indeed, God chose one virgin (a servant of the Lord) to give birth to the Messiah

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I have memorized this verse. It is not difficult after all once you break the verse

to different phrases and understand the words. Vocabulary will take time to build. Therefore, be patient. Press on to learn God’s Word in the original languages

A word of encouragement: Read how God has blessed me since I started learning Hebrew. Click here to read further.