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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 1

1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah), 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.⁠ 19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.⁠ 20 When he had contemplated 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 as your wife because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.⁠ 21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”⁠ 22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”⁠ 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, 25 but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

Matthew quotes the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah 7 and its language of a virgin conceiving. Matthew relies on the Greek version rather than the Hebrew, which is ambiguous about the woman being a virgin and the timing of the child’s birth.

Passages

LXX Isaiah 7:14

Septuagint
12 And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I test the Lord. 13 And he said, Hear now, house of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? and how do you contend against the Lord? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; look, the virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey he will eat; before he knows or prefers evil, he shall choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which you are afraid of because of the two kings.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

Matthew 1:23

New Testament
21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, 25 but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... By quoting the text, the narrator "forces" the reader to "listen" to the Jesus-story in light of the promised "Emmanuel". We have here a clear form of reader guidance. By giving an explicit text (Isaiah 7:14), the narrator unfolds a dynamic reading that is difficult to control. The "intrusion" of the old text into a new literary context may induce the reader to reflect and meditate on possible interconnections. Some ambiguities of the Hebrew version are absent in the Greek text. A vague messianic understanding can be glimpsed in the way the child is introduced. Unlike the Hebrew text, the Greek highlights the distinctive character of the child in a very specific way: he has the ability to distinguish good from evil before he knows either (LXX Isaiah 7:15-16). As Martin Rosel has pointed out, the Septuagint version implies an understanding of the child as a heavenly gifted figure. Although other textual elements from the Isaiah context may enrich the interpretation of the Matthean narrative, the narrator makes sure that no reader misses the main point: the narrative makes Scripture "complete" ..."
Moisés Mayordomo, "Matthew 1-2 and the Problem of Intertextuality" in Claire Clivaz, et al. (eds.), Infancy Gospels. Stories and Identities (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), 272–273.
"... Matthew’s rendering of the LXX’s Parthenos from Isaiah 7:14 ('A virgin will conceive and bear a son' [Matthew 1:23]) remains a site of popular piety and scholarly debate. The Hebrew word translated by parthenos in the LXX is ’almah, which is used in the Tanakh in Isaiah 7:14 and six other times (Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8; Psalm 68:26; Proverbs 30:19; and Song of Solomon 1:3; 6:8) in the sense of “a young woman” but does not necessarily suggest “virgin.” The Greek Parthenos does not, for the LXX, necessarily connote “virgin,” although that is the predominant translation. It appears in Genesis 34:3 in reference to Dinah, who had just had intercourse with Shechem. The Hebrew term betulah, used more than fifty times, including several times in Isaiah, usually (but not always) carries the technical sense of “virgin.” Thus, for the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14, and perhaps even the Greek text, the prophet is saying, “The young woman is pregnant” There is no reason to presume her pregnancy was miraculous ..."
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds., The Jewish Annotated New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 4.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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  • Pues no cuadran se contra dicen
    Uno dice.. Dios con nosotros
    El otro dice... por qué el salvará a su pueblo de sus pecados.

    Moshe Hernández, October 25, 2026

LXX Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23

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