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How words related to gender, sex, and sexuality in the Hebrew Bible have been mistranslated-and what we gain by retranslating words we thought we knew

Even those who have not read the Hebrew Bible know some of its phrases by heart: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Do not lie with a male as with a woman." "For I am a jealous god." But are these translations reliable? In this groundbreaking book, Sara Milstein argues that words in the Hebrew Bible related to sex, gender, and sexuality have been consistently mistranslated, resulting in the misinterpretation of numerous passages. Peppering her analysis with tidbits from ancient and modern law, Greek literature, the study of emotions, and the history of sexuality, Milstein offers fresh interpretations of terms and texts that have been lost in translation for millennia.

In a series of illuminating case studies, Milstein reveals how the earliest translators introduced concepts that were foreign to the ancient Israelites. These concepts then spread to other translations and interpretations, religious and scholarly alike. Paradoxically, she argues, translation is both the obstacle and the cure. Rather than begin with the English (or German, or Chinese, or . . .) and work backwards, we must start with the Hebrew and move forward, approaching familiar texts from a new position of unfamiliarity. It's time, Milstein suggests, to rethink our assumptions about sex in the Bible, one word at a time.