The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition

The first Jewish gender-sensitive translation of the full Hebrew Bible, THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition (RJPS or Revised JPS Edition) renews and revises the iconic Jewish Publication Society Bible translation (NJPS or 1985 New JPS Edition) to reflect advances in scholarship and changes in English while maintaining utmost fidelity to the original Hebrew.

The Gender-Sensitive Edition offers gender-inclusive renderings where appropriate and gendered renderings when called for historically and linguistically, incorporating the best of contemporary research into Israelite history and religion, literary studies, philology, linguistics, and the social sciences to offer a faithful and accurate translation. References to persons are gender sensitive yet consistent with ancient gender norms, and the translation strives for inclusive language when referring broadly to people, ancestors, and humankind. References to God are typically gender neutral and generally avoid grammatically masculine pronouns and labels, with careful examination of each context yielding the most appropriate rendering. To enable the tetragrammaton (God’s four-letter name) to be encountered as a name and without masculine connotations, the edition typically translates it as ＂God＂ (in small capitals) rather than ＂the Lord.＂

Revising the venerable JPS translation, the Gender-Sensitive Edition empowers readers to experience Scripture with all the power of the original Hebrew. It is sure to become the new Bible translation of choice for readers who embrace biblical scholarship with reverence for tradition, and for communities and individuals who adopt an inclusive, egalitarian perspective in today’s world.

David E. S. Stein, the revising translator and project manager of this gender-sensitive edition, has served as the general editor and revising translator for The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition; project manager for Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary; managing editor for the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (JPS, 1999); and editor of The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the Original JPS Translation (JPS, 2006).