This passage comes from the wider catalog — a broader, more lightly curated list than the core set. Both readings are shown as peers; GEBible takes no side.
13He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good.16For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.17Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.
The fulfillment reading
How this passage is read as pointing to the Messiah.
The fulfillment reading takes the name Immanuel as a title reaching its fullest expression in the incarnation, where 'God with us' describes God's presence in the person of Jesus. Matthew's birth narrative is read as programmatically framing Jesus' ministry between the Immanuel of the opening chapter and the promise of abiding presence at its close. Proponents argue that the extraordinary 'sign' language calls for a fulfillment surpassing an ordinary naming. The title is thus understood as anticipating an incarnational rather than merely nominal presence of God.
The counter-reading
How this passage is read within its own context.
The critical reading treats Immanuel as a theophoric name, built around a divine element like many Hebrew names, expressing the conviction that God stands with Judah during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis. On this view such names state theological commitments about their setting rather than ontological claims about their bearers. The birth narrative's use of the title is read as a christological application distinct from the name's original civic and covenantal function. The verse's stated timeframe is located in the 8th century BCE, tied to the coming defeat of the Syro-Israelite coalition and the fall of Damascus.
How the New Testament uses this passage
Each entry names how the New Testament author draws on the passage — a direct quotation, an allusion, an echo, or a typological reading. An echo or an allusion is not the same as a prediction; the label says which is which.
Matthew 1:23 (within the cited Matthew 1:18-23 range) is a formula quotation reproducing Isaiah 7:14 and glossing the Immanuel name; 1 Tim 3:16 does not cite the OT text.
Matthew 1:23 (within the cited Matthew 1:18-23 range) is a formula quotation reproducing Isaiah 7:14 and glossing the Immanuel name; 1 Tim 3:16 does not cite the OT text.
