diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 1ca90f107..7fd8d5f93 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -444,6 +444,17 @@ docs = ["furo (>=2024.8.6)", "sphinx (>=8.0.2)", "sphinx-autodoc-typehints (>=2.
 testing = ["covdefaults (>=2.3)", "coverage (>=7.6.1)", "diff-cover (>=9.2)", "pytest (>=8.3.3)", "pytest-asyncio (>=0.24)", "pytest-cov (>=5)", "pytest-mock (>=3.14)", "pytest-timeout (>=2.3.1)", "virtualenv (>=20.26.4)"]
 typing = ["typing-extensions (>=4.12.2)"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "gherkin-official"
+version = "29.0.0"
+description = "Gherkin parser (official, by Cucumber team)"
+optional = false
+python-versions = "*"
+files = [
+    {file = "gherkin_official-29.0.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:26967b0d537a302119066742669e0e8b663e632769330be675457ae993e1d1bc"},
+    {file = "gherkin_official-29.0.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:dbea32561158f02280d7579d179b019160d072ce083197625e2f80a6776bb9eb"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ghp-import"
 version = "2.1.0"
@@ -1204,21 +1215,22 @@ testing = ["argcomplete", "attrs (>=19.2.0)", "hypothesis (>=3.56)", "mock", "no
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pytest-bdd"
-version = "7.3.0"
+version = "8.1.0"
 description = "BDD for pytest"
 optional = false
-python-versions = ">=3.8"
+python-versions = ">=3.9"
 files = [
-    {file = "pytest_bdd-7.3.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:168ede4a118e348feb70182590ee4a2f856e68dafe54a75a4e9203da37d4ade6"},
-    {file = "pytest_bdd-7.3.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:9dfeb1d8565d9548907f36a5a9e2c8e1e0cbac3b2724e17331b87386a19fbc16"},
+    {file = "pytest_bdd-8.1.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:2124051e71a05ad7db15296e39013593f72ebf96796e1b023a40e5453c47e5fb"},
+    {file = "pytest_bdd-8.1.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:ef0896c5cd58816dc49810e8ff1d632f4a12019fb3e49959b2d349ffc1c9bfb5"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
+gherkin-official = ">=29.0.0,<30.0.0"
 Mako = "*"
 packaging = "*"
 parse = "*"
 parse-type = "*"
-pytest = ">=6.2.0"
+pytest = ">=7.0.0"
 typing-extensions = "*"
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e396e42a6..741f4e01e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "jrnl"
-version = "v4.2"
+version = "v4.2-beta"
 description = "Collect your thoughts and notes without leaving the command line."
 authors = [
     "jrnl contributors <maintainers@jrnl.sh>",