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Advent Season · Fourth Sunday of Advent · Year A

Isaiah 7:10-14

A Sign for David’s House

December 21, 2025

The Annunciation, Fra Angelico
The Annunciation, Fra Angelico, c. 1440–1445Museum of San Marco, Florence
At the top of the stairs at San Marco, where every friar passed it daily. The loggia is painted as the convent's own, and the two figures bow to each other across it.The Lord himself will give you a sign: Isaiah's sign is a child, and this is the moment of being told.Fra AngelicoA Dominican friar who painted, canonised in 1982, whose work was made for the cells and corridors his brothers lived in.Museum of San Marco, FlorenceThe Dominican friary where Fra Angelico painted a fresco in every cell, left in place, so the pictures are still in the rooms they were made for.Museum of San Marco, Florence
Roman Lectionary
GospelMatt. 1:18-24Mt 1:18-24
Second ReadingRom. 1:1-7Rom 1:1-7
First ReadingIsa. 7:10-14Is 7:10-14
Responsorial PsalmPs. 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (7c, 10b)Ps 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (7c, 10b)

Overview & Insights

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

The exchange belongs to the Syro-Ephraimite crisis of about 734 B.C., when Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel marched on Jerusalem to force Ahaz into their coalition (7:1-2) and Ahaz was weighing an appeal to Assyria instead. Isaiah’s offer is extravagant, a sign “deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (v. 11), and Ahaz’s refusal is pious in form, since testing God is forbidden at Deuteronomy 6:16, but the prophet hears it as the unbelief already warned of in 7:9. The address then shifts from the singular “you” of the king to a plural “you” in vv. 13-14: the sign is given to the house of David, not to Ahaz personally. The Hebrew almah means a young woman of marriageable age; the Greek version chose parthenos, and Matthew 1:23 quotes that reading. Within Isaiah the child’s name returns twice, at 8:8 and 8:10, once as threat and once as reassurance.

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Take it further: Isaiah 7:10-14

Commentary

Isaiah 7:10-14Is 7:10-14 Enduring Word · David Guzik

A verse-by-verse evangelical commentary on the sign of Immanuel, 'God with us.'

Classic commentaries on Isaiah 7Classic commentaries on Is 7 BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on the Immanuel prophecy verse by verse.

Isaiah 7 CommentaryIs 7 Commentary Precept Austin

Inductive verse-by-verse notes and cross-references drawing many conservative sources.

Background & Word Study

Isaiah 7 in Hebrew, with Jewish commentaryIs 7 in Hebrew, with Jewish commentary Sefaria

The Hebrew text with classical Jewish commentary on the sign of the young woman with child.

Isaiah, book overviewIs, book overview Enter the Bible

A background summary of the book's structure, setting, and themes.

Overview: Isaiah 1-39Overview: Is 1-39 BibleProject

An animated overview mapping the literary design and themes of Isaiah 1-39.

Isaiah 7:10 Hebrew interlinearIs 7:10 Hebrew interlinear BibleHub

Word-by-word Hebrew with parsing and Strong's numbers for close study.

Theme: The Messiah BibleProject

The Immanuel sign read as a promise fulfilled in the child born of Mary.

The Church Fathers

Isaiah 7, patristic commentaryIs 7, patristic commentary Catena

Patristic reading of the Immanuel sign as prophecy of the virgin birth.

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