THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition

by Jewish Publication Society, Inc. (Editor), Dr. Job Y. Jindo (Translator), Rabbi David E.S. Stein (Editor)

The first Jewish gender-sensitive translation of the full Hebrew Bible,  THE JPS 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, the 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.
 

Genres: Jewish, Mythology

1752 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2023

Reviews

[Asher]

I feel like it would be wholly ridiculous to try to give a star rating to the Tanakh or offer any criticism of it that has not been said already in the last few thousand years. What I can and will instead talk about is this particular edition, which I found to be very well put together and very useful. The introductory text about the translation process was fascinating and deeply informative, and the footnotes throughout were useful and contributed to a better contextualisation of the text. If you're looking to understand the original text itself rather than the work of a later translator, to understand what the original language meant rather than what a middle-ages translator thought of it, this is the edition for you.

[Tim Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 21st century edition updates the standard JPS version of Torah, Nebi'im, Kethubim and is very helpful for those engaged in Scripture study. It deserves wide circulation in many libraries and academic settings. It needs to be offered at a reasonable cost (paperback) or multi-volume. High marks 4* out of 5*!