diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e836edf839..fcb2ad98c5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "WordPress",
-  "version": "3.7.0",
+  "version": "3.9.0",
   "description": "WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.",
   "repository": {
     "type": "svn",
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
index d5aba28b9d..e66f75d0a9 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/basic.php
@@ -29,6 +29,17 @@ class Tests_Basic extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 		$this->assertEquals( $version, trim( $matches[1] ), "readme.html's version needs to be updated to $version." );
 	}
 
+	function test_package_json() {
+		$package_json = file_get_contents( dirname( ABSPATH ) . '/package.json' );
+		$package_json = json_decode( $package_json, true );
+		list( $version ) = explode( '-', $GLOBALS['wp_version'] );
+		// package.json uses x.y.z, so fill cleaned $wp_version for .0 releases
+		if ( 1 == substr_count( $version, '.' ) ) {
+			$version .= '.0';
+		}
+		$this->assertEquals( $version, $package_json['version'], "package.json's version needs to be updated to $version." );
+	}
+
 	// two tests for a lame bug in PHPUnit that broke the $GLOBALS reference
 	function test_globals() {
 		global $test_foo;