The Greek word rendered “virginity” at 1 Corinthians 7:36-38 literally means “virgin.” For this reason the thought has been advanced that Paul was talking about a father’s or guardian’s duty toward a marriageable daughter. Thus The Jerusalem Bible reads: “If there is anyone who feels that it would not be fair to his daughter to let her grow too old for marriage, and that he should do something about it, he is free to do as he likes; he is not sinning if there is a marriage.” Another view is that this text pertains to a man’s deciding to marry the girl to whom he is engaged. An American Translation states: “If a man thinks he is not acting properly toward the girl to whom he is engaged, if his passions are too strong, and that is what ought to be done, let him do as he pleases; it is no sin; let them be married.”

The context, however, suggests that the reference is not to a virgin girl but to a person’s own virginity. Commentator Matthew Henry observed: “I think the apostle is here continuing his former discourse, and advising unmarried persons, who are at their own disposal, what to do; the man’s virgin being meant of his virginity.” (A Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VI, p. 1036) Since the Greek word par·theʹnos can include single men, the rendering “virginity,” as found in the translations by J. B. Rotherham and J. N. Darby as well as in the New World Translation, is appropriate and seems to fit the context best.

SPIRITUAL VIRGINITY

Even as Israel’s high priest could take only a virgin as his wife (Lev. 21:10, 13, 14; compare Ezekiel 44:22), so the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, must have only a “virgin” as his spiritual “bride” in heaven. (Rev. 21:9; Heb. 7:26; compare Ephesians 5:25-30.) Hence, the apostle Paul was deeply concerned about the purity of the Corinthian congregation, desiring to present it “as a chaste virgin to the Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2-6) The bride of Christ is evidently composed of 144,000 spirit-anointed persons who individually maintain their ‘virginity’ by remaining separate from the world and by keeping themselves morally and doctrinally pure.—Rev. 14:1, 4; compare 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 6:15-20; James 4:4; 2 John 8-11.

CITIES, PLACES AND PEOPLES

Often the term “virgin” is used in connection with cities, places or peoples. Reference is made to the “virgin” or “virgin daughter” of “my people” (Jer. 14:17), of Israel (Jer. 31:4, 21; Amos 5:2), Judah (Lam. 1:15), Zion (2 Ki. 19:21; Lam. 2:13), Egypt (Jer. 46:11), Babylon (Isa. 47:1) and Sidon (Isa. 23:12). The sense of this figurative use appears to be that the various peoples or locations thus referred to either had not been seized and ravished by foreign conquerors or at one time enjoyed an unsubdued state like a virgin.

MESSIANIC PROPHECY

While the Hebrew word b^ethu·lahʹ means “virgin,” another term (ʽal·mahʹ) appears at Isaiah 7:14: “Look! The maiden [ʽal·mahʹ] herself will actually become pregnant, and she is giving birth to a son, and she will certainly call his name Immanuel.” The word ʽal·mahʹ means “maiden” and can apply to a non-virgin or a virgin. It is applied to the “maiden” Rebekah before marriage when she was also called a “virgin” (b^ethu·lahʹ). (Gen. 24:16, 43) Under divine inspiration, Matthew employed the Greek word par·theʹnos (“virgin”) when showing that Isaiah 7:14 found final fulfillment in connection with the virgin birth of Jesus, the Messiah. Both Matthew and Luke state clearly that Jesus’ mother Mary was then a virgin who became pregnant through the operation of God’s holy spirit.—Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35.

VISION

A sight or scene presented to a person’s mind by day or night, usually through other than ordinary means, and sometimes while the recipient was in a trance or was dreaming. (Acts 10:3; Gen. 46:2) It is often difficult to establish a clear demarcation between visions and dreams described in the Bible, and at times they are combined.

When a person received a vision from God during waking hours, it appears that the impression was made upon the conscious mind. The vision could later be recalled and described or recorded by the recipient, in his own words. Some persons, such as Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, also had nocturnal visions, or ‘visions of the night.’ These seem to have been impressed upon the subconscious mind while the recipient slept.

TRANCE

Apparently God’s spirit at times superimposed on the mind a picture of God’s purpose or a vision while a person was in a trance, a state of deep concentration or a sleeplike condition. The Greek word rendered “trance” in the Christian Scriptures is ekʹsta·sis (from which the English word “ecstasy” is derived). Defined literally as a putting away or displacement, it carries the figurative idea of “a throwing of the mind out of its normal state.” An individual in a trance would be oblivious to his literal surroundings and would be receptive to a vision.—Acts 22:17, 18.

ASSURANCES OF DIVINE FAVOR

Certain visions from God revealed to Jehovah’s servants how he was dealing with them and gave them assurance of divine favor. The word of Jehovah came to Abram (Abraham) in a vision and the patriarch was assured: “Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield for you. Your reward will be very great.” (Gen. 15:1) Thereafter, Jehovah made a covenant with Abraham. (Gen. 15:2-21) Some years later, God talked to Jacob in visions of the night, telling him not to be afraid to go down to Egypt, for God would constitute him a great nation there and would eventually bring him up from that land.—Gen. 46:1-4; compare 2 Samuel 7:1-17; 1 Chronicles 17:1-15.

DIRECTION IN SERVING THE DIVINE PURPOSE

Some visions from God gave the recipients direction in the doing of Jehovah’s will. After the glorified Jesus Christ appeared to Saul of Tarsus, Saul, though temporarily blinded, had a vision in which he saw a man named Ananias lay his hands upon him so that he might recover sight. Also by means of a vision, Ananias was directed to the very house where Saul was in Damascus.—Acts 9:1-19.

In Caesarea in 36 C.E., the devout Gentile Cornelius received a vision in which an angel told him to send to Joppa for Simon Peter. (Acts 10:1-8) At Joppa, Peter fell into a trance and had a vision in which he saw descending from heaven a vessel containing various unclean creatures. By this means the apostle was taught that he should not consider defiled the things God had cleansed. This prepared Peter to initiate the work of preaching the good news to Gentiles.—Acts 10:9-23; 11:5-12.

Divine direction in the preaching work was also given to Paul by means of visions. At Troas, during Paul’s second missionary tour, at night the apostle had a vision of a Macedonian man who entreated: “Step over into Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:8-12) Later, due to a reassuring vision by night in which the Lord spoke to him, the apostle remained in Corinth for a year and six months, teaching the word of God.—Acts 18:8-11.

PROPHECY

Some visions from God were prophetic, or were given to enable the recipient to interpret prophecies communicated in visions and dreams. The prophet Daniel “had understanding in all sorts of visions and dreams.” (Dan. 1:17) It was in a “night vision” that God revealed to Daniel the content and meaning of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about an immense image pictorial of world powers.—Dan. 2:19, 28; compare Daniel 4:5, 10, 13, 20-22.

In a prophetic dream and “visions during the night,” Daniel beheld four huge beasts coming out of the sea, indicating that four kings would stand up from the earth. (Dan. 7:1-3, 17) The prophet was also privileged to behold in vision “someone like a son of man” obtaining rulership, dignity and kingdom from the Ancient of Days.—Dan. 7:13, 14.

Visions from God were also received by such Bible writers as Isaiah (Isa. 1:1; 6:1-13), Amos (Amos 7:1-9, 12; 8:1, 2) and Ezekiel. (Ezek. 1:1) Obadiah’s inspired prophetic declaration against Edom opens with the words: “The vision of Obadiah.” (Obad. 1) “The vision of Nahum” contains a pronouncement against Nineveh.—Nah. 1:1.

The book of Revelation contains a vision seen by the aged apostle John. The book’s Greek name, A·po·kaʹly·psis, meaning ‘an uncovering’ or ‘an unveiling,’ is apropos, for Revelation does uncover matters, disclosing many events of the distant future, far beyond the time of its composition.

FALSE VISIONS

Prior to Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E., that city’s false prophets spoke “the vision of their own heart,” their messages not originating with Jehovah. (Jer. 23:16) Having no vision from Jehovah, what they visioned was worthless. (Lam. 2:9, 14) Because they spoke untruth and “visioned a lie,” Jehovah was against them.—Ezek. chap. 13.

SOME FORETOLD TO SEE VISIONS

In contrast with false visions and in addition to the God-given visions already discussed, Joel was divinely inspired to foretell that, under the influence of God’s spirit, young men would “see visions.” (Joel 2:28) Peter showed that there was a fulfillment of this prophecy on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E., when the holy spirit was bestowed upon followers of Jesus Christ and they miraculousy declared in many languages “the magnificent things of God.”—Acts 2:1-4, 11, 15-17.

VISIONARY

As used in the Bible, this term denotes a man who had or claimed to have visions from God regarding concealed or future matters. The Hebrew word for “visionary” is hho·zehʹ, from hha·zahʹ, meaning “to gaze.” Hha·zahʹ and its derivatives are employed with reference to seeing visions.—Num. 24:4; Isa. 1:1; 21:2; 22:1; Ezek. 13:7; Dan. 8:1.

Some visionaries were false and were opposed by God. (Isa. 29:10; Mic. 3:7) Others were sent by Jehovah and spoke in his name. (2 Ki. 17:13; 2 Chron. 33:18) The term “visionary” is applied to several men, namely, Heman, Iddo, Hanani, Gad, Asaph, Jeduthun and Amos. (1 Chron. 25:5; 2 Chron. 12:15; 19:2; 29:25, 30; 35:15; Amos 7:12) Some, such as Gad and Iddo, recorded their visions or wrote other accounts. (1 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29; 33:19) Not all of Jehovah’s prophets were visionaries. However, Gad was called both a “prophet” and “David’s visionary,” apparently because at least some of the messages he received from God came by means of visions containing divine instruction or counsel for King David.—2 Sam. 24:11; 1 Chron. 21:9; see SEER.

VOICE

The sounds uttered by persons in speaking or singing, and the like, and those made by animals, are denoted in Scripture by the Hebrew word qohl, its Aramaic equivalent qal and the Greek word pho·neʹ. (Gen. 3:8, 10; 21:17; Job 4:10; Dan. 4:31; Matt. 27:46) Besides “voice,” qohl can also denote “thunder,” “sound,” and so forth. (Gen. 45:16; Ex. 20:18; 28:35) Similarly, pho·neʹ can have such meanings as “sound” and “speech sound” as well as “voice.”—John 3:8; 1 Cor. 14:10, 11; Heb. 12:26.

SPIRIT PERSONS

The apostle Paul speaks of “the tongues of men and of angels,” indicating that spirit persons have language and speech. (1 Cor. 13:1) Angels, and Jehovah God himself, have been heard to speak in voice sounds and languages audible and understandable by men. But it is not to be supposed that such would be the voice with which they communicate with one another in the heavens, for atmosphere of the proper constituency, such as exists around the earth, is necessary for propagating the sound waves of voice audible and understandable to the human ear.

The instances in which God, or angels, spoke in a voice in the hearing of men would therefore be a manifestation of their speech as transformed into sound waves, just as appearances of angels to the vision of man required either a materialization or a transmitting to the human mind of a pictorial image. Today even human scientists can take the sound-wave pattern of an individual’s voice and convert it into electrical impulses so that it can come from an amplifier and speaker in the form of an audible voice that very closely resembles that of the person.

Jehovah’s “voice”

In three instances in the Bible record, Jehovah is reported as speaking audibly to humans. These were: (1) At the time of Jesus’ baptism (29 C.E.), Jehovah saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” Both Jesus and John the Baptist undoubtedly heard this voice. (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22) (2) At Jesus’ transfiguration (32 C.E.), with the apostles Peter, James and John present, virtually the same words being uttered. (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:36) (3) In 33 C.E., shortly before Jesus’ last Passover, when, responding to Jesus’ request that God glorify his name, a voice from heaven said: “I both glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd thought that it thundered, or that an angel had spoken to Jesus.—John 12:28, 29.

On those occasions Jehovah God himself made himself manifest by means of audible sounds of speech understandable to his servants. Evidently in the last-named instance the crowd did not hear the voice distinctly, since some compared it to thunder. Jehovah undoubtedly was the speaker on those occasions, because Jesus, in connection with whom the statements were made, was no less than God’s own Son, closer to the Father than any other.—Matt. 11:27.

Speaking to a group of unbelieving Jews, about the time of the Passover of 31 C.E., Jesus told them: “Also, the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his figure; and you do not have his word remaining in you, because the very one whom he dispatched you do not believe.” (John 5:37, 38) This unbelieving crowd had never heard God’s voice, nor even obeyed his word or the obvious witness they received through God’s support of Jesus’ works. For that matter, apparently only Jesus and John the Baptist had heard the audible voice of Jehovah, for the two last-named instances of Jehovah speaking had not yet occurred at this point.

Biblical mention of Jehovah’s “voice” sometimes refers to the authoritativeness of his command as “the voice of God Almighty.”—Ezek. 10:5, RS.

Angelic voices

On other occasions wherein God is said to speak, angels were used as his representatives to provide the vocal manifestation. Angels represented God in speaking to Moses in Mount Horeb and to Israel, assembled near the foot of the mountain. (Ex. 34:4-7; 20:1-17; Gal. 3:19) These angels sometimes did not present any visible appearance of a form, as when the voice came from the quaking, smoking mountain. (Ex. 20:18, 19; Deut. 4:11, 12; Heb. 12:18, 19) At times they made visionary appearances (Dan. 8:1, 15, 16; Rev. 14:15-18) and on several occasions materialized in human form to bring spoken messages to men.—Gen. 18:1-3, 20; 19:1; Josh. 5:13-15.