Jeremiah 31:22 contains the enigmatic statement that "a woman shall encompass a man," or in other translations that a woman will surround, protect, or return to a man. The verse occurs within Jeremiah's promise of Israel's restoration and his appeal for the faithless daughter of Israel to return. Its Hebrew wording is unusual, and its precise meaning has been debated for centuries. Unlike Isaiah 7:14, the passage does not explicitly mention a virgin, conception, or miraculous birth.

Matthew 1:18-20 unmistakably teaches that Jesus was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit before she and Joseph came together, and Matthew explicitly connects that event with Isaiah 7:14. Christian interpreters in parts of the church's history have also read Jeremiah 31:22 as an additional allusion to the virgin conception, understanding the "new thing" created by God as a woman encompassing a man without ordinary human generation. That is a possible traditional Christological reading, but it should not be presented with the same certainty as Matthew's explicit use of Isaiah. The virgin birth is firmly established by the Gospel account; its connection with Jeremiah 31:22 is interpretive rather than an explicit New Testament fulfillment.