Genesis 34
34
1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. 3His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 4Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”
5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came. 6Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him. 7The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done. 8Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 9Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”
11 Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favour in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. 12Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, 14and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us. 15Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised, 16then will we 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 sister,#34:17 Hebrew has, literally, “daughter” and we will be gone.”
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19The young man didn’t wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honoured above all the house of his father. 20Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying, 21“These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters to us for wives, and let’s give them our daughters. 22Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male amongst us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”
24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon 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 Shechem’s house, and went away. 27Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field, 29and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house. 30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, amongst the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”
31 They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”
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Genesis 34
34
Dinah is raped
1Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women who lived there. 2She was seen by Hamor's son Shechem, the leader of the Hivites, and he grabbed her and raped her. 3But Shechem was attracted to Dinah, so he told her how much he loved her. 4He even asked his father to get her for his wife.
5Meanwhile, Jacob heard what had happened. But his sons were out in the fields with the cattle, so he did not do anything at the time. 6Hamor arrived at Jacob's home 7just as Jacob's sons were coming in from work. When they learnt that their sister had been raped, they became furiously angry. Nothing is more disgraceful than rape, and it should not be tolerated in Israel.
8Hamor said to Jacob and his sons:
My son Shechem really loves Dinah. Please let him marry her. 9Why don't you start letting your families marry into our families and ours marry into yours? 10You can share this land with us. Move freely about until you find the property you want; then buy it and settle down here.
11Shechem added, “Do this favour for me, and I'll give whatever you want. 12Ask anything, no matter how expensive. I'll do anything, just let me marry Dinah.”
13Jacob's sons wanted to get even with Shechem and his father because of what had happened to their sister. 14So they tricked them by saying:
You're not circumcised!#34.14 You're not circumcised: Israelite boys were circumcised when they were eight days old, and no uncircumcised man could be part of the people of Israel. It would be a disgrace for us to let you marry Dinah now. 15But we will let you marry her, if you and the other men in your tribe get circumcised. 16Then your families can marry into ours, and ours can marry into yours, and we can live together like one nation. 17But if you don't agree to get circumcised, we'll take Dinah and leave this place.
18Hamor and Shechem liked what was said. 19Shechem was the most respected person in his family, and he was so in love with Dinah that he hurried off to get everything done. 20The two men met with the other leaders of their city and told them:
21These people really are friendly. Why not let them move freely about until they find the property they want? There's enough land here for them and for us. Then our families can marry into theirs, and theirs can marry into ours.
22We have to do only one thing before they will agree to stay here and become one nation with us. Our men will have to be circumcised like their men. 23Just think! We'll get their property, as well as their flocks and herds. All we have to do is to agree, and they will live here with us.
24Every grown man followed this advice and got circumcised.
Dinah's brothers take revenge
25Three days later the men who had been circumcised were still weak from pain. So Simeon and Levi,#34.25 Simeon and Levi: Dinah's full brothers. two of Dinah's brothers, attacked with their swords and killed every man in town, 26including Hamor and Shechem. Then they took Dinah and left. 27Jacob's other sons came and took everything they wanted. All this was done because of the horrible thing that had happened to their sister. 28They took sheep, goats, donkeys, and everything else that was in the town or the fields. 29After taking everything of value from the houses, they dragged away the wives and children of their victims.
30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “Look what you've done! Now I'm in real trouble with the Canaanites and Perizzites who live around here. There aren't many of us, and if they attack, they'll kill everyone in my household.”
31They answered, “Was it right to let our own sister be treated that way?”
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012