Isaiah 7:14, virgin, or young woman?
Isaiah 7:14 has virgin in the Greek translation and young woman in the Hebrew text presented here. The issue is the ancient Greek rendering of a Hebrew word, not a disputed Hebrew text.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
The blind committee's printed text at Isaiah 7:14 says, "Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel." No rationale note matches this crux. The pericope's audit verdict is flagged.
The argument for each reading
If “virgin”
The case for ἡ παρθένος begins with the Septuagint (LXX), a translation dated c. 2nd century B.C. Its text reads ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει, rendered in the packet as the virgin shall conceive. This is a pre-Christian Greek choice for the contested word, rather than a disagreement over the Hebrew wording itself. Reading A therefore asks readers to take the LXX's Greek rendering seriously: at Isaiah 7:14 it presents the woman as the virgin. The question is not whether this form appears in the LXX, but how its translation choice should be related to the Hebrew term.
If “young woman”
The case for העלמה begins with the Hebrew witnesses. The Masoretic Text (MT), a codex A.D. 1008 with a tradition centuries older, reads העלמה, and the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ), a manuscript c. 125 B.C., reads the same word. The packet identifies העלמה as a young woman of marriageable age and notes that Hebrew has a separate word, בתולה, when virginity itself is asserted. Reading B thus rests on both the supplied Hebrew wording and the stated distinction between the two Hebrew terms. Here the Hebrew text is not in doubt; the question is what the Greek translation did with this word.
The uncertainty is how to assess the Septuagint's Greek choice in relation to the Hebrew word. This variant changes the description at issue, virgin or young woman; it does not put the supplied Hebrew text itself in doubt. Any doctrinal conclusion should not hinge on this variant alone: most doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
Does the Hebrew text say virgin?
The MT and 1QIsaᵃ read העלמה. The packet describes it as a young woman of marriageable age and identifies בתולה as the separate Hebrew word used when virginity itself is asserted.
Why does virgin appear in Isaiah 7:14?
The LXX, a translation c. 2nd century B.C., reads ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει, rendered in the packet as the virgin shall conceive.
What did the blind committee print?
Its printed text uses young woman. No rationale note matches this crux, and the pericope's audit verdict is flagged.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.