diff --git a/hail/.gitignore b/hail/.gitignore
index dd789fc04b0..e6cf691e326 100644
--- a/hail/.gitignore
+++ b/hail/.gitignore
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ src/main/c/libsimdpp-2*
 src/main/c/headers
 src/main/c/lib
 src/main/resources/build-info.properties
+python/hail/_generated_version_info.py
 src/test/resources/example.v11.bgen.idx*
 src/test/resources/example.8bits.bgen.idx*
 src/test/resources/random.bgen.idx*
 src/test/resources/random.bgen-*.bgen.idx*
 src/test/resources/skip_invalid_loci.bgen.idx*
-src/test/resources/parallelBgenExport.bgen/part-00000.idx*
\ No newline at end of file
+src/test/resources/parallelBgenExport.bgen/part-00000.idx*
diff --git a/hail/build.gradle b/hail/build.gradle
index c49c823004b..aade534b6a3 100644
--- a/hail/build.gradle
+++ b/hail/build.gradle
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ compileJava {
 }
 
 task generateBuildInfo(type: Exec) {
-    commandLine 'sh', 'generate-build-info.sh', sparkVersion, hailVersion
+    commandLine 'bash', 'generate-build-info.sh', sparkVersion, hailVersion
     outputs.upToDateWhen { false }
 }
 
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ task testJar(type: Jar) {
     from sourceSets.test.output
 }
 
-task archiveZip(type: Zip) {
+task archiveZip(type: Zip, dependsOn: generateBuildInfo) {
     from fileTree('python')
     classifier = 'python'
 }
diff --git a/hail/generate-build-info.sh b/hail/generate-build-info.sh
index 5d6980398a5..31c4a5bd956 100644
--- a/hail/generate-build-info.sh
+++ b/hail/generate-build-info.sh
@@ -2,16 +2,25 @@
 
 set -e
 
+REVISION=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+DATE=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
+DATE=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+URL=$(git config --get remote.origin.url)
+SPARK_VERSION=$1
+HAIL_VERSION=$2
+
 echo_build_properties() {
+  echo "[Build Metadata]"
   echo user=$USER
-  echo revision=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
-  echo branch=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
-  echo date=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
-  echo url=$(git config --get remote.origin.url)
-  echo sparkVersion=$1
-  echo hailVersion=$2
+  echo revision=$REVISION
+  echo branch=$BRANCH
+  echo date=$DATE
+  echo url=$URL
+  echo sparkVersion=$SPARK_VERSION
+  echo hailVersion=$HAIL_VERSION
 }
 
 mkdir -p src/main/resources/
 
 echo_build_properties $1 $2 > "src/main/resources/build-info.properties"
+echo "hail_version = \"${HAIL_VERSION}-${REVISION:0:12}\"" > python/hail/_generated_version_info.py
diff --git a/hail/python/hail/context.py b/hail/python/hail/context.py
index 191ab7c3887..f6fdf9214c8 100644
--- a/hail/python/hail/context.py
+++ b/hail/python/hail/context.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from hail.utils.java import Env, joption, FatalError, connect_logger, install_exception_handler, uninstall_exception_handler
 
 import sys
-
+import os
 
 class HailContext(object):
     @typecheck_method(sc=nullable(SparkContext),
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ def __init__(self, sc=None, app_name="Hail", master=None, local='local[*]',
         version = self._jhc.version()
         hail.__version__ = version
 
+        if not os.getenv('HAIL_IGNORE_PYTHON_VERSION'):
+            py_version = read_version_info()
+            if py_version != version:
+                raise RuntimeError(f"Hail version mismatch between JAR and Python library\n"
+                                   f"  JAR:    {version}\n"
+                                   f"  Python: {py_version}")
+
         if not quiet:
             sys.stderr.write('Running on Apache Spark version {}\n'.format(self.sc.version))
             if self._jsc.uiWebUrl().isDefined():
@@ -252,3 +259,8 @@ def set_global_seed(seed):
     """
 
     Env.set_seed(seed)
+
+
+def read_version_info() -> str:
+    from ._generated_version_info import hail_version
+    return hail_version