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Jesus Christ and Christianity Chronology • Virgin Birth Ministry • Miracles • Parables Death and resurrection Second Coming • Christology Names and titles• Relics Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... For the religious belief, see Virgin Birth of Jesus. ... Image File history File links JesusYeshua. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... This page is about the title, office or what is known in Christian theology as the Divine Person. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... The chronology of Jesus depicts the traditional chronology established for the events of the life of Jesus by the four canonical gospels (which allude to various dates for several events). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... According to the Canonical Gospels, the Ministry of Jesus began when Jesus was around 30 years old, and lasted a period of 1-3 years. ... According to the canonical Gospels, Jesus worked many miracles in the course of his ministry. ... The parables of Jesus, found in the synoptic gospels, embody much of Jesus teaching. ... The Resurrection—Tischbein, 1778. ... For other uses, see Second Coming (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Christology is a field of study... A large variety of names and titles are used in the New Testament to describe Jesus. ... There are many relics attributed to Jesus that people believe or believed to be authentic relics of the Gospel accounts. ...
Cultural and historical background Aramaic • Race Genealogy of Jesus This article — a part of the Jesus and history series of articles — discusses the cultural and historical background of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity, without regard to his divinity, or to his existence as an actual historical figure. ... Most scholars believe that Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic, with some Hebrew and Greek, although there is some debate in academia as to what degree. ... “Black Jesus” redirects here. ... Lukes genealogy of Jesus, from the Book of Kells transcribed by Celtic monks circa 800 The genealogy of Jesus through either one or both of his earthly parents (Mary and Joseph) is given by two passages from the Gospels, Matthew 1:2–16 and Luke 3:23–38. ...
Perspectives on Jesus Biblical Jesus • Religious Christian • Jewish • Islamic Historicity • Mythographic research • historical • ahistorical Yuz Asaf This article presents a description of Jesus life, as based on the four gospels. ... Religious perspectives on Jesus is the specific significance some religions place on Jesus. ... Christian views of Jesus consist of the teachings and beliefs held by Christian groups about Jesus, including his divinity, humanity, and earthly life. ... Judaism has no special or particular view of Jesus, and very few texts in Judaism directly refer to or take note of Jesus. ... Islam holds Jesus (Arabic: `Īsā) to have been a messenger and a prophet of God. ... This article is about the veracity of Jesus existence. ... The study of Jesus from a mythographical perspective is the examination of the narrative of Jesus, the Christ (the Anointed) of the gospels, Christian theology and folk Christianity as a central part of Christian mythology. ... The quest for the historical Jesus is the attempt to use historical rather than religious methods to construct a verifiable biography of Jesus. ... This article is about Jesus the man, using historical methods to reconstruct a biography of his life and times. ... The Jesus myth hypothesis, also referred to as the Jesus myth theory, the Jesus myth[1][2][3] refers to the idea that the mythological aspects of the narrative of Jesus in the gospels indicate that the figure of Jesus is an ahistorical construct of various forms of ancient mythology... Yuz Asaf (Kashmiri: युझ असफ, یوذسف), Judasaf, Yus Asaph, or Shahzada Nabi Hazrat Yura Asaf is a prophet revered among the Sabians. ...
Jesus in culture Images • Sexuality Jesus has inspired artistic and cultural works for nearly two millennia. ... There are no undisputed historical images of Jesus; he sat for no portraits which are preserved and of unquestioned authenticity and undoubted provenance. ... The subject of Jesuss sexuality is much debated. ... This box: view • talk • edit

The gospels of Matthew and Luke recount how Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. The two most widely used Christian creeds — the Nicene and Apostles' creeds — assert belief in this virgin birth. Mary's virginity at the birth of Jesus is also a tenet of Islam.^[1] The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. ... The Gospel of Luke (literally, according to Luke; Greek, Κατά Λουκαν, Kata Loukan) is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. ... Saint Mary and Saint Mary the Virgin both redirect here. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... For other uses, see Creed (disambiguation). ... Icon depicting the Holy Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea holding the Nicene Creed. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      The... In Roman times, Vestal Virgins were strictly celibate or they were punished by death. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ...

The gospels, later tradition and current doctrine, present Jesus' birth as a miracle — involving no natural father, no sexual intercourse nor male seed in any form. Rather, Matthew and Luke attribute conception to the Holy Spirit.^[2] The Gospel of Matthew additionally presents the birth as fulfilling a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah. For other uses, see Miracle (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      In mainstream... This article is about the Book of Isaiah. ...

The Qur'an frequently refers to Jesus with the matronymic Jesus son of Mary (Isa bin Maryam).^[3] However, unlike Christians, Muslims refer to Jesus as a servant of God, not as The Son of God.^[4] A matronymic is a personal name based on the name of ones mother. ...

The account of the origin of Jesus is distinguished from other stories of miraculous birth, especially in Jesus' own Hebrew tradition, by explicitly excluding any intervention of male seed. The motive of a hero’s miraculous birth is quite common for the world folklore, especially for fairy-tales. ...

In the New Testament

The gospels

The New Testament has four accounts of Jesus' life, commonly known as gospels. While they have much in common there are also differences of coverage and focus. The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John, essentially begin with Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist; whereas the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, essentially begin with Jesus' birth. Gospel, from the Old English good tidings is a calque of Greek () used in the New Testament (see Etymology below). ... The Gospel of Mark, anonymous[1] but traditionally ascribed to Mark the Evangelist, is a synoptic gospel of the New Testament. ... For other uses, see Gospel of John (disambiguation). ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. ... The Gospel of Luke (literally, according to Luke; Greek, Κατά Λουκαν, Kata Loukan) is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. ...

Although Mark and John contain no birth narrative, John 8:39-41 could be an allusion to the circumstances of Jesus' birth.^[5] The other two gospels, which are the only ones to give accounts of the infancy of Jesus (the first two chapters in each) explicitly state that Jesus was conceived without human father.

Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew (c 80-85) begins with a genealogy leading from Abraham to Joseph, but then calls Joseph the husband of Mary "of whom (Mary) Jesus was born, who is called Christ" (Matthew 1:2-16). It then explicitly states that, when Mary was found to be pregnant, she had not lived with Joseph, to whom she was engaged (1:18), and that he did not have marital relations with her before the child was born (1:25). It declares: "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (1:20), in fulfilment of the prophecy, "a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (1:22-23). For other uses, see Abraham (name) and Abram (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Saint Joseph (disambiguation). ...

The Gospel of Matthew presents the virgin birth of Jesus as fulfilling a prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, which Matthew adapts to his purpose.^[6] Hebrew has a specific word, betulah, for a virgin, and a more general word, `almah, for a young woman. Since `almah is the word used in the Hebrew text of Isaiah, some commentators, whether Christian or not, have believed it at least possible that Isaiah had in mind only a normal conception by a young mother and that Matthew applied this text of Scripture to the birth of the one he believed to be Messiah, as John seems to have applied to his death another text of Scripture that in its original context referred to the Passover lamb.^[7] Others believe that Isaiah was indeed directly prophesying the future virgin birth of the Messiah. The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. ...

The author of Matthew may have recounted the virgin birth story to answer contemporary Jewish slanders about Jesus' origin.^[8]

Luke

Like Matthew, Luke (c 85-90) includes infancy narratives and a genealogy.

In Luke 1:30-35 Mary asks how she is to conceive and bear a son, since she is a virgin; and she is told it will happen by the power of God. Luke 3:23-38 gives a genealogy, different from that given by Matthew. It traces the ancestry of Joseph, whose son, Luke says, Jesus was thought to be, back beyond King David and Abraham, to the origin of the human race. Lukes genealogy of Jesus, from the Book of Kells transcribed by Celtic monks circa 800 The genealogy of Jesus through either one or both of his earthly parents (Mary and Joseph) is given by two passages from the Gospels, Matthew 1:2–16 and Luke 3:23–38. ... This page is about the Biblical king David. ...

When the archangel Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear a son conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-38), she responds with the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), a prayer of joy, probably from an early Christian liturgy.^[8] The Magnificat is one of several formal set pieces the author encorporates into the gospel.^[8] The Visitation in the Book of Hours of the Duc of Berry For the David and the Giants album, see Magnificat (album) The Magnificat (also known as the Song of Mary) is a canticle frequently sung (or said) liturgically in Christian church services. ...

Question of historicity of the gospel accounts

Many writers have taken as significant that two separate gospels attest to the virgin birth, although their details vary. In this view, the virgin conception and birth constitute a tradition that fits within the criterion of multiple attestation. The accounts of Matthew and Luke are taken as independent testimonies of the tradition, thus adding significantly to the evidence for the historical reality of the event of the birth. That the conception itself was indeed miraculous appears to rest on a "single attestation", that of Mary. The attestation of the angel to Joseph on the miraculous nature of the conception would not be accepted by many scholars as historiographically valid. The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by some Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from Jesus or from the Church that followed. ... This article is about the supernatural being. ... Historiography studies the processes by which historical knowledge is obtained and transmitted. ...

Critics of the "double attestation" argument point to differences between the accounts of Matthew and Luke regarding Jesus' birth. According to Matthew, an unnamed angel informs Joseph of the virginal conception; in Luke the angel Gabriel informs Mary before the conception occurs. Matthew says that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem when Jesus was born (Matthew 2:1) and that they moved first to Egypt, to avoid Herod the Great (2:13-14, and later, to avoid living under Herod's son Archelaus, they moved to Nazareth (2:22; according to Luke, the couple lived in Nazareth and only traveled to Bethlehem in order to comply with a Roman census (Luke 2:4). Luke mentions that Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, has the new-born Jesus visited by shepherds, and attributes two long hymns (the Magnificat and the Benedictus) and one short one (the Nunc dimittis) to various characters. None of this is mentioned by Matthew, and Matthew's account of the visit of the Magi, the massacre of the innocents by Herod, and the flight into Egypt is not mentioned by Luke. This article is about the archangel Gabriel. ... Herod the Great. ... Coin of Herod Archelaus Herod Archelaus (23 BC – c. ... Image:1870 census Lindauer Weber 01. ... St. ... Shepherd in Făgăraş Mountains, Romania. ... The Visitation in the Book of Hours of the Duc of Berry For the David and the Giants album, see Magnificat (album) The Magnificat (also known as the Song of Mary) is a canticle frequently sung (or said) liturgically in Christian church services. ... The Benedictus (also Song of Zechariah or Canticle of Zachary), given in Luke 1:68-79, is one of the three great canticles in the opening chapters of this Gospel, the other two being the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis. ... The start of the Nunc dimittis in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Nunc dimittis (also Song of Simeon or Canticle of Simeon) is a canticle from a text in the second chapter of Luke (Luke 2:29–32) named after its first words in Latin. ... For other uses, see Magi (disambiguation). ... The Holy Innocents by Giotto di Bondone. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Two rival explanations are put forward for the "double attestation" of Matthew and Luke regarding the virgin birth of Jesus:

1. The virgin birth was a historical event, and the narratives of Matthew and Luke are based on different aspects of the event according to witnesses' reports of it.
2. Matthew and Luke both wanted to present Jesus as fulfilling prophecies from Hebrew scripture. Both were aware of prophecies concerning a virgin birth and Bethlehem, and therefore these elements of their stories match. But each author wove these prophecies into an overall narrative in a different way. For example, both authors had to explain how Jesus was born in Bethlehem when he was known to be from Nazareth (as mentioned in all four gospels) — and each came up with an independent explanation, which some see as contradicting each other.

Among other theories that have been proposed as explanations of the origin of the accounts in Matthew and Luke of the birth of Jesus from a virgin is that of Stephen L Harris, who proposed that these were written to answer Jewish slanders about Jesus' illegitimate birth,^[8] of which there is evidence from the second century and later.^[9] Stephen L Harris is Professor and Chair, Department of Humanities and Religious Studies at California State University, Sacramento. ...

The epistles of Paul

The letters of Paul of Tarsus, considered to be the earliest texts in the New Testament, do not state that Jesus' mother was a virgin. Some passages in them have received special attention. Paul of Tarsus (b. ...

In Galatians 4:4 Paul wrote:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born^[10] of a woman, born under the law ...

This phrase speaks of Jesus as born "of a woman", not "of a virgin". Some see this as evidence that Paul knew of no account of the virgin birth of Jesus. Others see the phrase "born of a woman, born under the law" significant enough to imply that Jesus had no human father, especially since the emphasis on the mother and the omission of any mention of both parents is the opposite of that in Hebrew genealogy, where the father is often the only parent mentioned.^[11] And some point to the curse upon Jeconiah (Jeremiah 22:30 {{{3}}})as evidence of God's miraculous working,^[12] saying that only by a virgin birth could Jesus have Joseph as a legal father, inheriting the promises through David, while avoiding the curse through Jechoniah that none of his descendants would prosper and sit on the throne of David ^[13] Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin, Joachin, and Coniah) was king of Judah. ...

The Epistle to the Romans opens with the words: The Epistle to the Romans is one of the letters of the New Testament canon of the Christian Bible. ...

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord ...(Romans 1:1-4

Whether "descended from David according to the flesh" implies physical descent through Joseph is disputed.

Romans 8:3-4 has:

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

While some see "in the likeness of sinful flesh" as meaning merely that Jesus was externally like any other human being, others suggest that there is a contradiction between the notion of being in the likeness of sinful flesh and having been born of a virgin.

As has been remarked by students of the New Testament,^[14] the order of writing of the books shows that the oldest Christian preaching about Jesus concerned his death and resurrection.^[15] They turned their attention also to the deeds and words that came to them from the traditions of Jesus' ministry, which were formed into collections arranged in logical rather than chronological order, and which formed a basis for the four canonical Gospels, of which Mark is the earliest. Acts 10:37-41 gives an outline similar to Mark's, beginning with the baptism and ending with the resurrection, with no mention of the birth. Only later, for reasons not only of curiosity but also of apologetics and theology, attention was given to the birth and infancy, as in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

The absence of reference in Paul's writings to the infancy and even the ministry of Jesus may be seen as fitting this pattern.

Old Testament

There has been controversy among scholars about the translation and the meaning of a small section of Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14-16) containing the word "עלמה" (almah), translated variously as young woman or as virgin. Matthew, writing in Greek about the virgin birth of Jesus, quotes the Septuagint text of this passage, which uses the Greek word "παρθένος" (of which "virgin" is the correct English translation) to render the less precise Hebrew word. Almah (עלמה) or plural: alamot (עלמות) is a Hebrew feminine noun, for a girl who has reached puberty but is still under the shielding protection of her family; she is a young, marriageable (i. ... The Septuagint: A column of uncial text from 1 Esdras in the Codex Vaticanus, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brentons Greek edition and English translation. ...

In the King James Version of the Bible, a traditional Protestant translation, the verses of Isaiah appear as follows: The King James or Authorized Version of the Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible first published in 1611. ...

7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

However, several notable modern translations do not use virgin for `almah in this passage.

A plausible explanation of the purpose of the passage in Isaiah is that the original prophecy was spoken in 734 BC, when, before a soon-to-be-born child knows the difference between good and evil, Syria (which threatened Israel at the time) would be conquered. This prophecy would be fulfilled 2 years later, when Syria was defeated by the Assyrians in 732 BC. This child also appears in chapter 8, where it is said that, before he comes of age, the northern kingdom of Israel would be destroyed, which occurred also at the hands of Assyria in 722 BC.

Those who do not believe that this passage is a direct reference to the birth of Jesus, object that Jesus was not in fact named "Immanuel" and point to other problems such as: (1) what does the "butter and honey" refer to? (One possible response to the "butter and honey" problem: it is a reference to one who, metaphorically, "has eaten good meat his entire life in order to spit out the bad meat if it ever touched his lips".^{[citation needed]} The "butter and honey" reference is immediately followed by the comment on an ability to choose between good and evil, which may suggest that they are related.) (2) Why is Jesus, who was sinless from birth in the traditional Christian understanding, described as having to learn to refuse the evil and choose the good? and (3) This passage within the latter translations states that the "young woman" within this prophecy is "with child" (in the present tense, i.e. already pregnant, in English translations, though the present/future grammatical distinction does not exist in the Hebrew language). Readers of these English translations then find this prophecy difficult to apply to the coming Messiah Jesus, as it would have already been fulfilled during Isaiah's time.^[16]

Some say that the passage is a double reference^{[citation needed]}— a sign both to Ahaz that the alliance against him would be destroyed, and to the house of David as a whole that was threatened with extinction^{[citation needed]}. The Hebrew text uses "singular you" for the former and "plural you' for the latter. With the former, Isaiah reassures Ahaz that the alliance would be destroyed before his own son Shear Jashub, who was present (v. 3), would "learn to refuse the evil and choose the good".

A more common view among Christian commentators is that Matthew applied this text to the conception of Jesus in much the same way that John applied Exodus 12:46 to the crucified Jesus' legs not being broken like those of the two who were crucified with him.^[17]

Bethulah and `almah

Of the two Hebrew words בתולה (bethulah) and עלמה (`almah), most commentators interpret betulah as meaning a virgin,<sup>[18]</sup> and `almah as meaning a nubile young woman.^[19] In regular narrative, `almah denotes youth explicitly, virginity is suggested only loosely and implicitly. Hence, some have argued that, strictly speaking, the youth of a mother, not virginity, was all that was suggested by Isaiah. Almah (עלמה) or plural: alamot (עלמות) is a Hebrew feminine noun, for a girl who has reached puberty but is still under the shielding protection of her family; she is a young, marriageable (i. ... Nubility is the state of being marriageable. ...

Some have argued, on the contrary, that bethulah does not necessarily indicate virginity and that `almah does mean a virgin.<sup>[20]</sup> While in modern Hebrew usage bethulah is used to mean a virgin, in Biblical Hebrew it is found in Genesis 24:16 followed by the statement "and no man had known her", which, it is claimed, would be unnecessary if the word bethulah itself conveyed this information. Another argument is based on Joel 1:8, where bethulah is used of a widow; but it is not certain that here it referred to a woman who had had sexual relations, since marriage was considered to begin with betrothal, some time time before cohabitation began. As for the word `almah, this same minority view holds that the young women to whom it was applied in the Old Testament were all in fact virgins.

In an Ugaritic tablet, the words in that language cognate to bethulah and `almah are both used in relation to the goddess Anath who by union with the male lunar deity was to bear a son.^[21]. The Aramaic counterpart of bethûlah was used of married women. The same holds for other cognate languages, "there is in fact no word for 'virgin' in Sumerian or Akkadian."^[22]

Parthenos

The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek used the Greek word παρθένος (parthenos), from which words such as parthenogenesis are derived, to render the Hebrew word `almah in the text of Isaiah. This word normally means "virgin", though there are four instances in classical Greek where it is used to mean unmarried women who are not virgins.<sup>[23]</sup> The Septuagint uses the word to translate three different Hebrew words: bethulah, "maiden/virgin"; `almah, "maiden/virgin"; and נערה, na`arah, "maiden, young woman, servant", as seen in the following examples: The Septuagint: A column of uncial text from 1 Esdras in the Codex Vaticanus, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brentons Greek edition and English translation. ... Parthenos is greek for virgin. The word is the source for the building called Parthenon in Greece. ... For the religious belief, see Virgin Birth of Jesus. ...

Genesis 24:16 And the damsel [parthenos = Hebrew na`arah] was very fair to look upon, a virgin [parthenos = Hebrew bethulah], neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.

Judges 21:12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins [parthenous = Hebrew bethulah], that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

Archaeological evidence is claimed to show that Jewish speakers of Greek used the word parthenos elastically, in that Jewish catacombs in Rome identify married men and women as "virgins".^{[citation needed]} It has been suggested that in this case the word was used to call attention to the fact that the deceased was someone's first spouse.

As Christianity spread, Greek-speaking Jews stopped using the word παρθένος as a translation of עלמה, replacing it with νεᾶνις (neanis), meaning a "young (juvenile) woman".

Argument from a 1400 BC Ugaritic text

The poetic or elevated prose context of the Isaiah prophecy,^[24] lends itself to comparison with pre-biblical literature of similar genre in cognate languages, for establishing the semantic domain of its vocabulary. Semitic poetry is characterized by synonymous parallelism, that is, instead of the rhyming common in European verse of recent centuries, couplets are often formed by using near-synonyms. Cyrus H. Gordon considers a poetic passage in Ugaritic, a north-west Semitic language neighbour to Hebrew. This article is about the art form. ... A genre [], (French: kind or sort from Greek: γένος (genos)) is a loose set of criteria for a category of literary composition; the term is also used for any other form of art or utterance. ... Look up cognate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Semantics is a term that refers to how meaning is assigned in language (Oxford, 1989). ... Parallelism means to give two or more parts of the sentences a similar form so as to give the whole a definite pattern. ... For the Angel episode, see Couplet (Angel episode). ... Cyrus Herzl Gordon (1908 - March 30, 2001), was an American scholar of Near Eastern cultures and a leading expert on ancient languages. ... The Ugaritic language is known to us only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit since its discovery by French archaeologists in 1928. ... 14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna. ...

It all boils down to this: the distinctive Hebrew word for 'virgin' is betulah, whereas `almah means a 'young woman' who may be a virgin, but is not necessarily so. The aim of this note is rather to call attention to a source that has not yet been brought into the discussion. From Ugarit of around 1400 B.C. comes a text celebrating the marriage of the male and female lunar deities. It is there predicted that the goddess will bear a son ... The terminology is remarkably close to that in Isaiah 7:14. However, the Ugaritic statement that the bride will bear a son is fortunately given in parallelistic form; in 77:7 she is called by the exact etymological counterpart of Hebrew `almah 'young woman' [>Glmh<]; in 77:5 she is called by the exact etymological counterpart of Hebrew betulah 'virgin' [>btlt<]. Therefore, the New Testament rendering of `almah as 'virgin' for Isaiah 7:14 rests on the older Jewish interpretation, which in turn is borne out for precisely this annunciation formula by a text that is not only pre-Isaianic but is pre-Mosaic in the form that we now have it on a clay tablet.^[25][26]

The argument that Gordon, Feinberg and others go on to make is that Matthew's interpretation of Isaiah referring to a virgin is consistent with early Jewish interpretation. This includes the Jewish interpretation of the passage provided by the LXX, produced centuries before Matthew.

Christianity and similar traditions