I heard that in regards to Mary and Joseph, the word Virgin was mistranslated.?

Question

Apparently when translated from Hebrew, they mistook the word for meaning Virgin, when it fact it meant young woman. How could this then be a miraculous conception? Obviously Joseph got on the good foot and did some bad things.

Answer 1

I believe you are referring to Mathew's quotation of Isaiah's prophecy that " virgin will be with child and shall bear a son." (Mat. 1:23; Is.7:14)
The Hebrew word used by Isaiah the prophet is "almah" which literally translated is "young woman" or as the NASV has as a marginal alternative to "virgin" in the main text, "maiden." In ancient Israel, an unmarried young woman was assumed to be a virgin. Probably the word "maiden" in English has some of that same connotation.
About 200 BC or so, Hebrew translators translated Isaiah into Greek. Apparently they recognized this passage as a Messianic prophecy because they chose the Greek word "parthenos" to translate the Hebrew "almah." Pathenos is a technical word which means virgin.
When Mathew chose his source for his quotation, he quoted from the Greek translation of the Scriptures as did most of the New Testament writers who were writing in Greek for a Greek speaking audience.
I understand that Jewish translators after the kerfuffle of the resurrection and spread of Christianity made a new translation of Isaiah and correcting the ancient translators mistake, rendered almah as young woman. But it really doesn't make for much of a hard hitting prophecy does it "a young woman will be with child..."

Answer 2

I don't think so...and if you are in the business of making analytical enquiries, it might be helpful to do some scripture research too on what you hear so that you do not allow peoples' chatter to take you for a ride

St Mary remained a virgin, as she clearly answered the angel and said "...how could this be, when I do not know any man"...and the term "know" relates to a sexual relation, and if she says she does not know any man whilst being betrothed to Joseph, then obviously there was no hint of intercourse at all.

Secondly, u remember the story of simeon who entered the temple when the st mary and st jospeh took baby jesus to do to him according to the custom of the jews, and the bible said, "...and simeon opened his mouth" and also describe him as "a rightouse man awaiting the salvation of the lord."...ever queried this??? let me help you out:
Simeon was roughly 300 years old...he was from the time of when the king of Israel wanted to translate the old testament from hebrew to latin and Greek so that other nationalities can read it. Thus he colated 70 of the world's top philosephers and educated teachers and translators (hense the translation is known today as the 'septogent translation' or the 'translation according to the 70')...any-hoo...Simeon was translating from Isiah where he read "...behold a Virgin will give birth"...
He thought exactly what you thought and translated down to be "woman" rather than "vigin"...and an angel appeared to him and told him "Because you doubted, you will not die until you see the salvation of the Lord, and until that date, you shall not utter a word."
Thus, he remained mute and lived until he saw the Christ come through the imaculate conception in St Mary the Virgin.

So check the version of the story that you have with the Historically documented one and make your own mind and critical analysis

GBU...have a good day!

Answer 3

There are some instances in Scripture where virgin means young woman of marrying age.

Mary was a virgin as we know it when she gave birth to Jesus which indeed is miraculous. However the Bible clearly states two things concerning this that many people overlook.

1. Mary and Joseph began having marital relations (sex) after the birth of Christ. Matthew 1:25

2. Mary had other children. There are several references to Jesus' brothers and sisters. A close study of the original Greek text reveals that this refers to natural blood related siblings. Matthew 12:47, matthew 13:55-56

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

That is the first time I've heard of that word being mistranslated. It is a good thing to keep translation errors in mind when reading hte Bible. I suppose that could be true, but scripture tradition gives us other wording about Mary's conception:

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d]—which means, "God with us."

24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Answer 5

It's true. A virgin was a "girl of marriageable age". It was translated wrong from the Hebrew.

Answer 6

Which part that this is a fairy tale don't you get.
Born from a virgin.
Miracle healer of unknown sickness.
Calls for a father, as if it were another person, and calls him Elohim ( that is a plural word) Resucitate between the dead, when was the last time that you seen a dead come back to life?

Answer 7

Even if this was true, When the Angel Gabrielle told her that she would conceive a child she asked, How can this be, I have never been with a man before. Therefore she was a virgin.

Answer 8

nope, what you said is simply not true and is a cheap shot at the virginity of our Blessed Mother.

Answer 9

don't get caught it up in the mythology
the Xian message is love other as you love yourself

Answer 10

maybe they wanted it to say Virginian so it could be a future prophecy.