APPENDIX 3

Instances of the Word ‘virgin’ in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Greek Old Testament

†

The following table gives the total number of places where the word for ‘virgin’ in Hebrew (betulah) or in Greek (parthenos) appears, comparing these with the English New Revised Standard version. Sometimes other words in Greek translate the Hebrew betulah, and occasionally the Hebrew uses other words which the Greek nevertheless translates to parthenos. The New Revised Standard version in English uses a range of expressions including ‘virgin’ to translate betulah and parthenos.

In all cases, however, these words refer to a female who is in the transition from girlhood to womanhood (completed at the consummation of marriage). This is a liminal state and is therefore rich in symbolic significance. We can conclude that this liminal state in the life cycle is what the evangelists intended to convey to their readers: that Mary had not yet completed this transition when she became pregnant. There is no hint of a commitment to a permanent state of virginity.