Comparing different translations of Isaiah 7:14

I was thinking about the Bible (this seems to be a common thing with me), and I was flipping through my ESV-CE, and landed on Isaiah, and that got me thinking about the different ways Isaiah 7:14 is translated.

This is a heavily debated topic, and for more on this, see how Strong's translates it; Isaiah 7:14

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And consider reading my articles that aren’t about excommunicated Church officials; Bringing the Deuterocanon to the masses

So, since I own a ton of Bibles, let’s start with one I bet y’all are surprised that I own.  The Living Bible: Paraphrased. 

My great grandmother (whom I knew), was a Baptist Sunday school teacher; “All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign, a child shall be born to a virgin, and she shall call him “Immanuel” (meaning “God is with us”).

Let’s go the Jerusalem Bible “The Lord himself, therefore, will give a sign.  It is this: The maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel”. 

The NKJV (the one I have has notes that WRONGLY claim that Constantine made the state religion of the Roman Empire, Christianity). 

Anyway, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

The NABRE, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign, behold, the young woman pregnant and about to bear a son shall name him Emmanuel” (I hope I copied that right).

The ESV-CE, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. 

And the venerable King James Version, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”.

I would like to do some other translations, but somehow, some of my Bibles got misplaced. 

So, does it matter how this verse is translated?  I think what a lot of people are forgetting is that NOT being a virgin before marriage is a fairly recent thing.  If it says maiden, then it probably means a virgin. 

I think “virgin” is a better translation, though. 

 Adam Charles Hovey is the creator of the Catholicism, News, and Whatever community on Locals; Catholicism, News, and Whatever community and host of Coffee and Christianity on the Adam Charles Hovey Podcast: Coffee and Christianity

*The Living Bible: Paraphrased, Copyright 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. All rights reserved.

The Jerusalem Bible Copyright 1966, 1967, and 1968 by Darton , Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Company Inc. 

The Nelson Study Bible, New King James Version, Copyright 1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. 

New King James Version, Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc.

New American Bible Revised Edition, Copyright 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Inc., Washington DC, All Rights Reserved. 

New Revised Standard Version Bible, Catholic Edition, copyright 1993, and 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A

And the King James Version has no copyright in the United States