God with Us
Bible verse double-take
===
“Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23 (NET)
For this reason the Lord himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:4 (NET)
===
Something different today.
As you can see, I’ve chosen a New Testament verse that’s quoting an Old Testament verse. Indeed, it’s a prophecy of Christ’s coming.
A couple big things stand out to me:
Matthew calls her a “virgin” while in Isaiah it’s a “young woman.”
This is due to the flexibility of the word in Hebrew.
Something of note: the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses the word “virgin” for the Isaiah passage. This syncs up well with Matthew’s Gospel, which was also written in Greek. In fact, Matthew’s wording is so close that he may have used the Septuagint when writing this.
In any case, both translations of Isaiah are valid.
Of course Matthew has a bigger point to make about the uniqueness of Jesus’ birth, so that’s likely why he chose “virgin.”
Now, what about the Messiah’s name?
Obviously, Jesus was named Jesus — not Emmanuel.
Which Matthew covers by giving his Greek-speaking audience the direct translation of the Hebrew name: God with us. Matthew is using the uniqueness of Jesus’ coming to make a point here too. Instead of a distant, invisible God, we are blessed by God Himself walking and talking in flesh & blood with us.
Quite incredible, that God would stoop so low to offer us salvation.
And, it’s the reason for the season!
— Ricky Ketchum
(By the way, Jesus is a Greek variation of Joshua which means “God is my salvation.” Same name, different languages. Similar situation with the different spellings of Emmanuel.)
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.