The JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition

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The JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition

Revised, Gender-Sensitive Edition

1664 pages
No index

Hardcover

October 2023

978-0-8276-1559-5

$39.95 Pre-order

About the Book

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

This 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, this gender-sensitive edition—RJPS (Revised Jewish Publication Society 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.
 

Author Bio

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).

Praise

“This gender-sensitive translation will transform our understanding of the Tanakh and our place within it. It invites the reader to envision the Divine and the main actors of the Bible in a more expansive way.”—Rabbi Angela W. Buchdahl, Central Synagogue, New York City

“This revised translation is not only gender-sensitive; it is also gender-sensible. Every decision regarding gender has been carefully considered to produce a faithful rendering of the Bible that is finely tuned to contemporary sensibilities. The explanations of the principles that direct these decisions are a welcome bonus; they enhance our understanding of the workings of biblical Hebrew and modern English.”—Adele Berlin, Robert H. Smith Professor Emerita of Biblical Studies at the University of Maryland

“As we strive for the utmost fidelity in how we render the eternal words of Tanakh, greater gender inclusivity in how we talk about people, and greater gender sensitivity in how we speak about God, JPS’s new gender-sensitive translation offers us a momentous contribution to biblical study—a massive and crucial step forward.  A must for every Jewish library and for every contemporary student of Torah.”—Rabbi Shai Held, president and dean of Hadar

“Gender norms have so dramatically changed since the completion of the JPS Tanakh translation in 1985 that it is both a necessity and a pleasure to have this new translation that pays deliberate and careful attention to issues of gender. Because this is gender-sensitive rather than gender-inclusive, it does not simply paper over the ways in which the text assumes male dominance, but tries to discern whether particular usages of male pronouns and terms were meant to be inclusive or not. In so doing, the translation both enlightens and disturbs, challenging many fixed assumptions and allowing readers to come to the Tanakh with fresh eyes.”—Judith Plaskow, author of Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective 

Table of Contents

Contents
Table of Scriptural Readings
Preface
Glossary for the Footnotes
Abbreviations and Terms
 
Torah - The Five Books of Moses
            Genesis
            Exodus
            Leviticus
            Numbers
            Deuteronomy 
 
Nevi'im - The Prophets
            Joshua
            Judges
            I Samuel
            II Samuel
            I Kings
            II Kings
            Isaiah
            Jeremiah
            Ezekiel
 
The Twelve Minor Prophets
            Hosea
            Joel
            Amos
            Obadiah
            Jonah
            Micah
            Nahum
            Habakkuk
            Zephaniah
            Haggai
            Zechariah
            Malachi
 
Ketuvim - The Writings
            Psalms
            Proverbs
            Job
            The Song of Songs
            Ruth
            Lamentations
            Ecclesiastes
            Esther
            Daniel
            Ezra
            Nehemiah
            I Chronicles
            II Chronicles