Bereshis 34
34
1And Dinah Bat Leah, which she bore unto Ya'akov, went out to see the Banot HaAretz.
2And when Shechem Ben Chamor the Chivi (Hivite), Nasi HaAretz, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and violated her.
3And his nefesh had deveykus unto Dinah Bat Ya'akov, and he loved the na'arah, and spoke to the lev hanaarah.
4And Shechem spoke unto Chamor aviv, saying, Get me this yaldah as isha.
5And Ya'akov heard that he had made his bat Dinah tameh; now his banim were with his mikneh in the sadeh; and Ya'akov held his peace until they were come.
6And Chamor avi Shechem went out unto Ya'akov to speak with him.
7And the Bnei Ya'akov came from the sadeh when they heard it; and the anashim were grieved, and they were in wrath greatly, because he had wrought nevalah (folly, disgrace, outrage) against Yisroel in lying with Bat Ya'akov; which thing ought not to be done.
8And Chamor spoke with them, saying, The nefesh of beni (my son) Shechem longeth for your bat; now give her him as isha.
9So intermarry with us, and give your banot unto us, and take benoteinu (our banot) unto you.
10And ye shall dwell with us; and HaAretz shall be before you; dwell and trade therein, and get you possessions therein.
11And Shechem said unto her av and unto her achim, Let me find chen (grace) in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
12Ask me never so much mohar (bride price, dowry) and mattan (gift), and I will pay according as ye shall say unto me; but give me the na'arah as isha.
13And the Bnei Ya'akov answered Shechem and Chamor aviv in mirmar (deceit) and spoke because he had made Dinah their achot tameh;
14And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give achoteinu (our sister) to ish that is arelah (uncircumcised); for that would be a cherpah (reproach, disgrace) unto us;
15But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will become like us, that every zachar of you be circumcised;
16Then will we give benoteinu unto you, and we will take your banot to us, and we will dwell among you, and we will become as Am Echad.
17But if ye will not pay heed unto us, to become circumcised; then will we take biteinu (our daughter), and we will go.
18And their words pleased Chamor, and Shechem Ben Chamor.
19And the na'ar deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Bat Ya'akov; and he was more respected than kol Bais Aviv.
20And Chamor and Shechem bno came unto the Sha'ar of their city, and they spoke with the anashim of their city, saying,
21These anashim are shlemim (peaceable) with us; therefore let them settle in HaAretz, and let them trade therein for HaAretz, hinei, it is plenty of room for them; let us take their banot to us as nashim, and let us give them benoteinu.
22Only herein will the anashim consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be Am Echad, if every zachar among us be circumcised, just as they are nimolim (ones being circumcised).
23Shall not their mikneh and their property and every behemah of theirs be ours? Only let us consent unto them, and they will settle among us.
24And unto Chamor and unto Shechem bno paid heed all that went out of the Sha'ar of his city; and every zachar was circumcised, all that went out of the Sha'ar of his city.
25And it came to pass on the Yom HaShlishi, when they were in pain, that two of the Bnei Ya'akov, Shim'on and Levi, achei Dinah, took each ish his cherev, and came upon the Ir betach (boldly, confidently), and they slaughtered kol zachar.
26And they slaughtered Chamor and Shechem bno with the edge of the cherev, and took Dinah from the Bais Shechem and left.
27The Bnei Ya'akov came upon the chalalim (dead ones, slain ones), and plundered the Ir, because they had made their achot tameh.
28They seized their tzon, and their bakar, and their chamorim, and that which was in the Ir, and that which was in the sadeh,
29And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their nashim they carried off and plundered even all that was in the bais.
30And Ya'akov said to Shim'on and Levi, Ye have brought trouble on me to make me a stench among the inhabitants of HaAretz, among the Kena'ani and the Perizzi; and I being few in mispar, they shall gather themselves together against me, and attack me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my bais.
31And they said, Should he deal with achoteinu like with zonah?
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Bereshis 34: TOJB2011
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.
Genesis 34
34
1-4One day Dinah, the daughter Leah had given Jacob, went to visit some of the women in that country. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her. Shechem went to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5-7Jacob heard that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the fields with the livestock so he didn’t say anything until they got home. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to Jacob to work out marriage arrangements. Meanwhile Jacob’s sons on their way back from the fields heard what had happened. They were outraged, explosive with anger. Shechem’s rape of Jacob’s daughter was intolerable in Israel and not to be put up with.
8-10Hamor spoke with Jacob and his sons, “My son Shechem is head over heels in love with your daughter—give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and we’ll give our daughters to you. Live together with us as one family. Settle down among us and make yourselves at home. Prosper among us.”
11-12Shechem then spoke for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: “Please, say yes. I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife.”
13-17Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”
18That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19The young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that he proceeded to do what had been asked. He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.
20-23So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public square and spoke to the town council: “These men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country for them. And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves are. This is a very good deal for us—these people are very wealthy with great herds of livestock and we’re going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask and have them settle down with us.”
24Everyone who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised.
25-29Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. When the rest of Jacob’s sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah’s rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.
30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You’ve made my name repulsive to the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn’t stand a chance; they’d wipe me and my people right off the map.”
31They said, “Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.