Virgin-Almah? What is the hebrew word for Virgin if Almah means "young woman"..tks!?

Answer 1

VIRGIN= parthenos

parthenos NT:3933 is used (a) of "the Virgin Mary," Matt 1:23; Luke 1:27; (b) of the ten "virgins" in the parable, Matt 25:1,7,11; (c) of the "daughters" of Philip the evangelist, Acts 21:9; (d) those concerning whom the apostle Paul gives instructions regarding marriage, 1 Cor 7:25,28,34; in vv. 36,37,38, the subject passes to that of "virgin daughters" (RV), which almost certainly formed one of the subjects upon which the church at Corinth sent for instructions from the apostle; one difficulty was relative to the discredit which might be brought upon a father (or guardian), if he allowed his daughter or ward to grow old unmarried. The interpretation that this passage refers to a man and woman already in some kind of relation by way of a spiritual marriage and living together in a vow of virginity and celibacy, is untenable if only in view of the phraseology of the passage; (e) figuratively, of "a local church" in its relation to Christ, 2 Cor 11:2; (f) metaphorically of "chaste persons," Rev 14:4.
parthenos

NT:3933 parthenos (par-then'-os); of unknown origin; a maiden; by implication, an unmarried daughter:


KJV - virgin.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

Answer 2

Almah= young woman
Betulah = virgin, and in Talmud: Masechta Yevamos and Masechta Kesubos it clearly distinguishes between the legal status of a betulah, an almah and a ne'arah. Betulah is what is referred to as a "complete" virgin- in other words a girl between the ages of 12 and 12 and a half who, while she can be betrothed, cannot consumate the marriage (there is a years waiting period between betrothal and marriage for any virgin). A virgin older than 12 and a half is called a "ne'arah".

Now, the way marriage works is like this:
First is erusin in which the man and woman are betrothed. They are considered married but are not allowed to live in the same house. Sex with others in this stage is considered adultery, sex between each other would immediately change the relationship to marriage as per the mishnah in Masechta Kidushin.

Next comes Nisuin, followed by chupah, after which the marriage is consumated. The Ketubah (marriage contract) is settled before erusin, but there is an argument amongst the authorities in the Talmud when it takes effect- some state that if the couple get divorced in erusin- the full ketubah is paid, others state that it is only effective from after nissuin.

Answer 3

in any case, it does not matter if the person in question was a virgin or not. its a moot argument. this "almah" could not be referring to mary, because this event took place as a sign from G-d to ahaz, which means that it happened during the lifetime of ahaz, hundreds of years before mary and jesus ever lived, which is also clear from the tense of the verbs.

"Therefore the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; behold, the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his name 'God is with us.' Cream and honey he shall eat when he knows how to reject the bad and choose the good. For, when the lad does not yet know to reject the bad and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread shall be abandoned."

the sign being spoken of is neither the woman nor the child. they aren't important in the slightest to this passage. the sign is what comes after that - that by the time the child is old enough to recognize right from wrong, things will have improved enough in the land that the child will be able to eat luxurious foods, and the outside threats facing ahaz at the time will have disappeared. the sign to ahaz is that very soon things are going to change for the better.

Answer 4

'betulah' is hebrew for 'virgin'.

'almah' does indeed mean 'young woman'.

And 'almah' is the word used in the Tanakh ('old' testament)

EDIT SUZANNE

Once again, your sheer arrogance astounds me. I would not presume to answer a question on Christianity and then tell Christians that THEY were wrong - yet you feel very happy doing this regarding Hebrew and Judaism!

Clearly you are not a hebrew speaker. Those of us who are and who truly understand the Jewish Tanakh have explained very clearly that 'betulah' DOES mean 'virgin'.

Stop answering on behalf of Judaism - it's not your religion and you are MISINFORMING people asking genuine questions and seeking CORRECT answers.

Answer 5

betulah

The word "almah" in biblical Hebrew means "young woman." The Hebrew word for virgin is "betulah." This is supported by Isaiah 37.22, where the word betulah is used to denote a virgin.

Isaiah 7:14
___________
יד לָכֵן יִתֵּן אֲדֹנָי הוּא, לָכֶם--אוֹת: הִנֵּה הָעַלְמָה, הָרָה וְיֹלֶדֶת בֵּן, וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ, עִמָּנוּ אֵל.
Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 37:22
_____________
כב זֶה הַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר יְהוָה עָלָיו: בָּזָה לְךָ לָעֲגָה לְךָ, בְּתוּלַת בַּת-צִיּוֹן--אַחֲרֶיךָ רֹאשׁ הֵנִיעָה, בַּת יְרוּשָׁלִָם.
this is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

Answer 6

besulah and if you look up proverbs 30:19 it say almah but cant mean virgin

Answer 7

OK - bracing myself for the Thumbs Down Brigade - but here goes.
While "alma" can mean either "virgin" or "young woman" - (this is easily confirmed in Hebrew dictionaries and checking the usage of the word throughout the Tanach/Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament) its most common usage was a young woman of marriageable age (virgin by implication, given societal standards at that time) - and there is no place in the Tanach, where almah (or its plural) is used that refers to a young woman who is married or has known a man - including Proverbs 30:19 (seriously - what kind of "sign" would it be for a married woman to get pregnant and have a child?)
I'd also point out that the LLX - the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (which predates the Christian era) - DOES use a word (parthenos) that means exclusively "virgin" in this passage.

Answer 8

Those who have read a little more deeply into the Talmud in Tractate Niddah understand that there IS NO WORD in Hebrew for virgin in the english sense.

When you delve deeply into the meaning of the word bitul, it means nullified. It refers to those who have seemingly been nullified because Hashem is revealed so clearly through them without interference, it seems as if they don't exist.

It is also used in the phrase "bitul hanephesh" which is a conquering of the evil inclination.

You can see an example in a picture of a tree I took at sunrise at http://www.geocities.com/gershon_ben_franja/tree.JPG

The area which the sun is shining is said to be bitul in Hebrew as you cannot see the tree due to the brightness of the sun shining through it.

It is quite clear under Jewish law that a young girl who had been raped by a Canaanite could be considered a "virgin" for the sake of marrying a high priest.

The christian use of the term is simply a verse snatching which used a similar word to snatch a verse out of context and build a story around it. It is clearly inserted into the christian book at a later time by someone who hadn't really read the passage in Isaiah which clearly refers to that time.

To bad those who read that book don't take the time to study the Tanach in depth and rely on this sort of verse snatching.

Shalom,

Gershon

btw, those trusting the JPS should understand that if Jews translated things the way they really are, the catholics would have murdered us. If you really want to understand the words, you will go to Hebrew commentaries that have only recently been translated. Such as Rashi and Ramban. In Rashi, the words are only translated on a superficial level with the deeper levels only available to those who study the many crossreferences. The mystical meanings are somewhat revealed in Ramban, but much of that is intentially not translated. Some things are only meant for those willing to make the effort to learn Hebrew and the many versions of Aramaic.

In the end, the meanings in the Torah are only available to Torah DOERS, not Torah readers. Just as the way you ride a bicycle is only available to those who DO it and not to those who read about it. This may come as a shock to people, but the Torah is just a guidebook to discovery about G-d. It is not the discovery. Unless you do it, there will be no discovery.

Shalom,
Gershon

Answer 9

Oh, my! I will just add one thing more to this contentious issue:


The verse says "ha'almah--," "**the** young woman," not **a** young woman, implying a particular woman that was known to Isaiah during his lifetime

Answer 10

The translators of the Greek Bible (Septuagint), clearly saw the word almah as virgin and translated it with the unambiguous parthenos ("virgin").