43 Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink;
(Verse 43.) Behold, I stand by the fountain of water, and the daughters of the city will come out to draw water. And there will be a maiden, to whom I will say, 'Give me a little water to drink from your jar,' etc. In Hebrew it is written: Behold, I stand by the fountain of water, and there will be a young girl who will come out to draw water. And I will say to her, 'Give me a little water to drink from your jar,' and so on. For the young girl, which in Greek is called νεανὶς, we also read Alma, which is found in Isaiah as well. For in that place where it is written in our books: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. VII, 14), Aquila translated it as: Behold, a young maiden shall conceive, and bear. In Hebrew it is read: Behold, a young woman shall conceive, and bear. It should be noted that the word alma is never used except for a virgin, and it has an etymology, ἀπόκρυφος, which means hidden. For it is written in Job: Where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? And it will be hidden from the eyes of all living (Job 28:21). When we say 'it will be hidden,' in Hebrew it is expressed differently due to the declension of the word, it is said 'Naalma.' To what is this similar? Even though it is declined in the masculine gender, it is written in the books of Kings, spoken by Elisha to Gehazi: 'And the Lord has hidden it from me' (2 Kings 4:27). Therefore, Alma, which means hidden, that is, virgin, seems to me to be of greater praise than a virgin who is guarded with excessive diligence. For a virgin according to the Apostle can be a virgin in body, but not in spirit. However, a hidden virgin has the addition of virginity, so that she is both a virgin and hidden. And she who is hidden, according to the idiom of the Hebrew language, is consequently also a virgin; but she who is a virgin does not immediately follow that she is hidden. This same word is also read in Exodus about Mary, the sister of Moses, as a virgin (Exodus II, 8). Therefore, the Jews show somewhere in the Scriptures where Alma is mentioned, which signifies only a young girl and not a virgin; and we concede to them that what is said among us in Isaiah: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, does not signify a hidden virgin, but rather a young girl already married.
[AD 420] Jerome on Genesis 24:43