כִּֽי־אִ֣ישׁ אִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְקַלֵּ֧ל אֶת־אָבִ֛יו וְאֶת־אִמּ֖וֹ מ֣וֹת יוּמָ֑ת אָבִ֧יו וְאִמּ֛וֹ קִלֵּ֖ל דָּמָ֥יו בּֽוֹ׃
Regarding anyone* who insults their father or their mother: they shall be put to death; they have insulted their father and their mother—and the bloodguilt is theirs.**
*anyone See note at 17.3.
**theirs I.e., the perpetrator’s.
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)
The word אִישׁ is repeated in 20 biblical verses; many of them occur in Leviticus, as here. Such repetition אִישׁ אִישׁ imparts a “no exceptions” meaning to the situation that is being depicted, as I explained in my comment to Exod 36:4. For application to constructions like this one, see my comment to Lev 17:3.
Gender is not at issue in this passage. Women are not excluded from view by either grammar, referential gender assignment, or unspoken mores.
As for rendering into English, there is no warrant for a gendered rendering. The NJPS “if anyone insults his father…” comes across nowadays as unduly gendered. It meanwhile focuses attention on the prohibited activity, rather than on the participant whose behavior is of concern. The revised rendering both employs gender-neutral pronouns and provides more of a participant orientation.
A new footnote then addresses the intensified nuance, which cannot be expressed as elegantly in English as in Hebrew.