Almah

Not to be confused with Almah (album); Almah (band); Almah (Egyptian dancer); or Alma, Israel.

Laban and Rebecca at the well, by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. Rebecca is described as an almah (Genesis 24:43)

Almah (עַלְמָה‎ ‘almāh, plural: עֲלָמוֹת‎ ‘ălāmōṯ, from a root implying the vigour of puberty ) is a Hebrew word for a virgin. Although many but not all Jewish scholars disagree, it's obvious from context that "almah" means virgin because using the word "almah" to imply "young woman of child-bearing age" would render the Bible verses at issue patently ludicrous. For example, interpreting the word "almah" to mean "young woman of child-bearing age" in Isiah 7:14 would mean that the prophet Isiah was literally claiming God's sign to King Ahaz would be a young woman of child-bearing age giving birth to a son, an event that literally happens every day. In other words, this interpretation of the word "almah" would flip the meaning of the verse; in this version of the verse, God would be punishing King Ahaz for refusing to request a sign from God by refusing to provide a sign from God.

Etymology and social context

Almah derives from a root meaning "to be full of vigour, to have reached puberty". In the ancient Near East girls received value as potential wives and bearers of children: "A wife, who came into her husband's household as an outsider, contributed her labor and her fertility ... [h]er task was to build up the bet 'ab by bearing children, particularly sons" (Leeb, 2002). Scholars thus agree that almah refers to a woman of childbearing age without implying virginity. From the same root, the corresponding masculine word elem עֶלֶם 'young man' also appears in the Bible, as does alum (used in plural עֲלוּמִים) used in the sense '(vigor of) adolescence', in addition to the post-Biblical words almut (עַלְמוּת) and alimut (עֲלִימוּת) both used for youthfulness and its strength (distinct from post-Biblical Alimut אַלִּימוּת 'violence' with initial Aleph, although Klein's Dictionary states this latter root is likely a semantic derivation of the former, from 'strength of youth' to 'violence').

When the Bible uses an unrelated word, betulah (‏בְּתוּלָה‎), to refer to a young woman, it goes on to clarify whether or not the young woman at issue is a virgin, necessarily implying that the word "betulah" does not mean virgin lest the subsequent clarifications be superflous. For example, in Joel 1:8, the Bible use the word betulah to refer to a young widow mourning her husband; if a "betulah" can be a widow, she's not also a virgin. For another example, Judges 21:12 uses the word "betulah" to refer to women, "who had not known a man." If "betulah" meant virgin, then clarifying that these "betulah" were virgins would be superfluous.

Bible usage

The word almah occurs nine times in the Hebrew Bible:

• A servant of Abraham tells his master how he met Rebecca. He prayed to the Lord that if an almah came to the well and he requested a drink of water from her, that should she then provide him with that drink and also water his camels; he would take that as a sign that she was to be the wife of Isaac. Rebecca, a young, unmarried girl, is that almah.

• Miriam, an almah, is entrusted to watch the baby Moses; she takes thoughtful action to reunite the baby with his mother by offering to bring the baby to a Hebrew nurse maid (her mother). Again, it is unlikely that royal attendants would have been sexually-active females.

• In 1 Chronicles 15:20 and Psalm 46 heading a psalm is to be played "on alamot". The musical meaning of this phrase has become lost with time: it may mean a feminine manner of singing or playing, such as a girls' choir, or an instrument made in the city of "Alameth".

• In a victory parade in Psalm 68:25, the participants are listed in order of appearance: 1) the singers; 2) the musicians; and 3) the "alamot" playing cymbals or tambourines.

• The Song of Songs 1:3 contains a poetic chant of praise to a man, declaring that all the alamot adore him. In verse 6:8 a girl is favorably compared to 60 Queens (wives of the King), 80 Concubines, and numberless alamot. If "alamot" engaged in sexual activity, the author would not need to distinguish them from the King's wives and concubines.

• In Proverbs 30:19, concerning an adulterous wife, the Hebrew text and the Greek Septuagint differ: both begin by comparing the woman's acts to things the author claims are hard to predict: a bird flying in air, the movement of a snake over a rock, the path of a ship through the sea; but while the Hebrew concludes with the way of a man with an almah, the Greek reads "and the way of a man in his youth".

• The verses surrounding Isaiah 7:14 tell how Ahaz, the king of Judah, is told of a sign to be given in demonstration that the prophet's promise of God's protection from his enemies is a true one. The sign is that an almah is pregnant and will give birth to a son who will still be very young when these enemies will be destroyed.. Of course, a young woman of child-bearing age giving birth to a son would be a ridiculous sign since it was, quite literally, a common occurrence.

Translation

The Septuagint translates most occurrences of almah into a generic word neanis νεᾶνις meaning 'young woman', or to neotes νεότης meaning 'youth', both words being derived from neos 'new' and unrelated to virginity. Two occurrences, in the Genesis verse concerning Rebecca and in Isaiah 7:14, are translated into parthenos (παρθένος), the basic word associated with virginity in Greek (it is a title of Athena 'The Virgin Goddess') but still occasionally used by the Greeks for a unmarried woman who is not a virgin. According to the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges more fully cited below, most scholars agree agree that the author of the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 'a young VIRGIN shall conceive and bear a son'. Furthermore, predicting that a woman of child-bearing age would have a son would be ludicrous in this context since the prophet was referring to an event so improbable that its occurrence would be sufficient to constitute a divine sign. If, as some allege, the prophet was referring to a woman of child-bearing age having a son, then the meaning of the verse would be precisely the opposite of its generally-accepted meaning, as it would necessarily imply that God did not intend to provide any sign that anyone would understand as a sign. To illustrate the point by analogy, no one prophesizes that the sun will rise in the East because no one would understand that event to constitute a divine sign; conversely, one might prophesies that this sun will rise in the West precisely because such an event would be sufficiently unusual so as to constitute a divine sign. Since this particular verse clearly references an unusual event that could only be understood as a divine sign, this verse necessarily references a virgin birth (which would be miraculous), rather than an ordinary birth (which would be anything but divine). To put it another way, God was not punishing King Ahaz for refusing to request a divine sign by refusing to provide a divine sign. Similarly, it's wildly improbable that Abraham would have directed his servant to seek-out a young non-virgin for his son to marry because it's wildly improbable that Abraham would have been indifferent to his future daughter-in-law's sexual history; thus, it's clear from context that the word "almah" refers to a virgin, rather than a young woman, since the verses that use the word "almah" would render the verses at issue ridiculous if the word merely implies that the woman was young, rather than virginal.

Given the religious sensitivities, it's understandable why some scholars would be reluctant to admit that "almah" means virgin, but it's important to understand - regardless of one's religious beliefs - that the Bible almost certainly doesn't render itself patently-ridiculous by using the wrong word to designate a virgin. That is, the Bible authors, whomever one believes them to be, were sufficiently well-versed in Hebrew that they did not need to clarify "betulah" meant virgin, nor did they believe that a young woman of child-bearing age giving birth to a son would have been miraculous as they were familiar with the concept that women of child-bearing age give births to sons on a regular basis. Thus, an argument that necessarily, albeit implicitly implies that the Bible's authors were idiots who didn't know the Hebrew word for "virgin" is not a reasonable argument.

In short, "almah" is the Biblical term for a virgin.

Bibliography

• Byrne, Ryan (2009). "Anatomy of a Cargo Cult". In Byrne, Ryan; McNary-Zak, Bernadette (eds.). Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The James Ossuary Controversy and the Quest for Religious Relics. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807895498. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Childs, Brevard S (2001). Isaiah. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664221430. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Gravett, Sandra L.; Bohmbach, Karla G.; Greifenhagen, F.V.; Polaski, Donald C. (2008). An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: A Thematic Approach. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664230302. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Leeb, C.S. (2002). "The widow: homeless and post-menopausal". Biblical Theology Bulletin. 32 (4): 160–162. doi:10.1177/014610790203200403. S2CID 169057204. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Preuss, Horst Dietrich (1974). "Isaiah". In Botterweck, Gerhard Johannes; Ringgren, Helmer (eds.). Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Vol. I. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802823250. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sweeney, Marvin A. (1996). Isaiah 1-39: With an Introduction to Prophetic Literature. William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. ISBN 9780802841001. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)