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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Genesis 34: MSG
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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.
Genesis 34
34
Dinah Is Defiled
1#Ge 30:21Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2When Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her. 3He was very smitten by Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke kindly to her. 4#Jdg 14:2Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5Now Jacob heard that Shechem had violated his daughter Dinah, but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.
6Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to commune with him. 7#Jdg 20:6; Dt 22:21The sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it, and the men were grieved and were very disturbed, because Shechem had disgraced Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that should not be done.
8Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. I pray that you will give her to him to marry. 9Make marriages with us, and give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10#Ge 13:9; 20:15You may dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Dwell and trade in it and get possessions in it.”
11#Ge 33:15Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12#Ex 22:16–17You can make the dowry and gift I must bring high, and I will give according to what you say to me. Just give me the girl to marry.”
13The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14They said to them, “We cannot do this. To give our sister to one who is uncircumcised would be a disgrace to us. 15But we will consent to you in this: If you will become as we are, that is, every one of your males be circumcised, 16then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will leave.”
18Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19#1Ch 4:9The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he wanted Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. 20#Ru 4:1So Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and they spoke with the men of their city, saying, 21“These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as our wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22Only on this condition will the men consent to dwell with us and be one people: if every male among us will be circumcised as they are circumcised. 23Will not their livestock and their possessions and every animal of theirs be ours? Only, let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.”
24#Ge 23:10All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25#Ge 49:5–7; 29:33–34On the third day, when they were in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and went to the unsuspecting city and killed all the males. 26They killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out of the house of Shechem and departed. 27The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys and whatever was in the city and in the fields. 29They took captive and looted all their wealth, all their little ones, and their wives, even all that was in each house.
30#Ex 5:21; 1Sa 13:4Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me revolting among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Our being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and slay me, and I will be destroyed, both I and my household.”
31But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
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