Isaiah 66:8 (WEB)
Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Isaiah 66:8 (KJV)
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Key words
- מִי־שָׁמַע כָּזֹאתmi-shama kazot · Hebrew
- 'Who hath heard such a thing?' — the birth is unprecedented.
- חָלָה גַּם־יָלְדָה צִיּוֹן אֶת־בָּנֶיהָchalah gam-yaledah Tsiyyon et-baneha · Hebrew
- 'as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children' — here the mother is the city and the children are a people.
Why it matters
Verse 7 spoke of an individual woman bearing a son; verse 8 speaks of Zion bearing children, a nation born in a day. Pitre observes that the identity of the mother is deliberately ambiguous, a woman and a city at once (p 120), which is why the prophecy can be fulfilled both in Mary's birth of the Messiah and in the birth of a people. The Targum and the rabbis read the passage of the Messiah's birth; Revelation 12 uses its Greek wording for the Woman in heaven.