Genesis 34
34
1Dinah, Jacob and Leah's daughter, went to visit some of the local women. 2Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her. He grabbed hold of her and raped her. 3However, then he fell deeply in love with Dinah and tried to get her to love him too. 4He went and asked his father, “Get this young girl for me so I can marry her.”
5Jacob found out that Shechem had violated#34:5. “Violated”: the word here is the one used in connection with being unclean. his daughter Dinah, but as his sons were away looking after the flocks in the fields he didn't say anything until they came home. 6In the meantime Hamor, Shechem's father, arrived to talk with Jacob. 7When Jacob's sons returned from the fields they were very upset when they heard the news and became extremely angry because Shechem had done something outrageous in Israel by having sex with Jacob's daughter—something that should never be done.
8Hamor told them, “My son Shechem is very much in love with your daughter and your sister Dinah.#34:8. “And sister Dinah”: supplied for clarity, since Hamor is addressing both Jacob and his sons. Please allow him to marry her. 9In fact we can have more marriages—you can give us your daughters and you can have our daughters. 10You can live among us and settle down wherever you like. You can go where you want and buy land for yourselves.”
11Then Shechem himself spoke up, and said to Dinah's father and brothers, “Please accept me and my proposal, and I'll do whatever you ask. 12You can set the bride price as high as you like, and I'll pay it along with all the gifts I'll give. Just let me have the girl so I can marry her.”
13Jacob's sons weren't honest when they answered him and his father Hamor because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah. 14They told them, “We can't do this! We can't allow our sister to marry a man who's not circumcised. That would bring disgrace on us. 15We will only agree to it with this condition: all of you must be circumcised like us. 16Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters, and we will live among you and become one family. 17But if you don't agree with us that you should be circumcised, then we'll take our sister and leave.”
18Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to what was proposed. 19The young man Shechem didn't waste any time in arranging this because he was infatuated with Jacob's daughter, and he was viewed as the most important person in his father's family. 20Hamor and Shechem went to the town gate and spoke to the other leaders there.
21“These men are our friends,” they told them. “Let's have them live here in our country and allow them to go wherever they want—it's big enough for all of them too. We can take their daughters as wives, and we can give our daughters to them to marry. 22But they will only agree to this on one condition: they will only join us and become one family if every male among us is circumcised like they are. 23If that happens, won't all their livestock and property—all their animals—end up belonging to us? We just have to agree to this and they will come and live among us.”
24Everyone there at the town gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem so every male in the town was circumcised. 25Three days later while they were still suffering pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons and Dinah's brothers, came with their swords into the town. Unopposed, they slaughtered every male. 26They killed Hamor and Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.
27Jacob's other sons arrived, robbed the dead bodies, and looted the town where their sister had been violated. 28They took their sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. They took whatever was in the town, and in the fields— 29all their possessions. They captured all their women and children, and plundered everything in their homes.
30But Jacob criticized Simeon and Levi, telling them, “You've just caused me a lot of trouble! You've made me like a bad smell among the people in this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I only have a few men, and if these people gather to attack me, I and my whole family will be wiped out.”
31But they replied, “Should we have let him treat our sister like a prostitute?”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Berĕshith (Genesis) 34
34
1And Dinah, the daughter of Lĕ’ah, whom she had borne to Ya‛aqoḇ, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2And Sheḵem, son of Ḥamor the Ḥiwwite, prince of the land, saw her and took her and lay with her, and humbled her.
3And his being clung to Dinah the daughter of Ya‛aqoḇ, and he loved the girl and spoke kindly to the girl.
4And Sheḵem spoke to his father Ḥamor, saying, “Take this girl for me for a wife.”
5And Ya‛aqoḇ heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Ya‛aqoḇ kept silent until they came.
6And Ḥamor, the father of Sheḵem, went out to Ya‛aqoḇ to speak with him.
7And the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ came in from the field when they heard it. And the men were grieved and very wroth, because he had done a senseless deed in Yisra’ĕl by lying with Ya‛aqoḇ’s daughter, which should not be done.
8But Ḥamor spoke with them, saying, “My son Sheḵem’s being longs for your daughter. Please give her to him for a wife.
9“And intermarry with us, give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves,
10and dwell with us, and let the land be before you. Dwell and move about in it, and have possessions in it.”
11And Sheḵem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favour in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I give.
12Ask of me a bride price and gift ever so high, and I give according to what you say to me, but give me the girl for a wife.
13But the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ answered Sheḵem and Ḥamor his father, and spoke with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
14And they said to them, “We are not able to do this matter, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us.
15Only on this condition would we agree to you: If you become as we are, to have every male of you circumcised,
16then we shall give our daughters to you, and take your daughters to us. And we shall dwell with you, and shall become one people.
17But if you do not listen to us and be circumcised, we shall take our daughter and go.
18And their words pleased Ḥamor and Sheḵem, Ḥamor’s son.
19And the young man did not delay to do this because he delighted in Ya‛aqoḇ’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.
20And Ḥamor and Sheḵem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying,
21“These men are at peace with us, so let them dwell in the land and move about in it. And see, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.
22“Only on this condition would the men agree to dwell with us, to be one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised.
23Their herds and their possessions, and all their beasts, should they not be ours? Only let us agree with them, and let them dwell with us.
24And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Ḥamor and Sheḵem his son; every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25And it came to be on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ, Shim‛on and Lĕwi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males.
26And they killed Ḥamor and Sheḵem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Sheḵem’s house, and went out.
27The sons of Ya‛aqoḇ came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28They took their flocks and their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field,
29and all their wealth. And all their little ones and their wives they took captive, and they plundered all that was in the houses.
30And Ya‛aqoḇ said to Shim‛on and Lĕwi, “You have troubled me by making me a stench among the inhabitants of the land, among the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites. And I am few in number, they shall gather themselves against me and shall strike me, and I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”
31But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a whore?”
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