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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Berĕshith (Genesis) 34: TS2009
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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.