B'resheet (Gen) 34
34
1(v) One time Dinah the daughter of Le’ah, whom she had borne to Ya‘akov, went out to visit the local girls; 2and Sh’khem the son of Hamor the Hivi, the local ruler, saw her, grabbed her, raped her and humiliated her. 3But actually he was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Ya‘akov; he fell in love with the girl and tried to win her affection. 4Sh’khem spoke with his father Hamor and said, “Get this girl for me; I want her to be my wife.”
5When Ya‘akov heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Ya‘akov restrained himself until they came. 6Hamor the father of Sh’khem went out to Ya‘akov to speak with him 7just as Ya‘akov’s sons were coming in from the field. When they heard what had happened, the men were saddened and were very angry at the outrage this man had committed against Isra’el by raping Ya‘akov’s daughter, something that is simply not done. 8But Hamor said to them, “My son Sh’khem’s heart is set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife; 9and intermarry with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10You will live with us, and the land will be available to you — you’ll live, do business and acquire possessions here.”
11Then Sh’khem said to her father and brothers, “Only accept me, and I will give whatever you tell me. 12Ask as large a bride-price as you like, I’ll pay whatever you tell me. Just let me marry the girl.” 13The sons of Ya‘akov answered Sh’khem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14They said to them, “We can’t do it, because it would be a disgrace to give our sister to someone who hasn’t been circumcised. 15Only on this condition will we consent to what you are asking: that you become like us by having every male among you get circumcised. 16Then we’ll give our daughters to you, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves, and we’ll live with you and become one people. 17But if you won’t do as we say and get circumcised, then we’ll take our daughter and go away.” 18What they said seemed fair to Hamor and Sh’khem the son of Hamor, 19and the young man did not put off doing what was asked of him, even though he was the most respected member of his father’s family, because he so much wanted Ya‘akov’ s daughter.
20Hamor and Sh’khem his son came to the entrance of their city and spoke with its leading men: 21“These people are peaceful toward us; therefore let them live in the land and do business in it; for, as you can see, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives for ourselves, and we’ll give them our daughters. 22But the people will consent to live with us and become one people only on this condition: that every male among us gets circumcised, as they themselves are circumcised. 23Won’t their cattle, their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s consent to do what they ask, and then they will live with us.” 24Everyone going out the city’s gate listened to Hamor and Sh’khem his son; so every male was circumcised, every one that went out the gate of the city.
25On the third day after the circumcision, when they were in pain, two of Ya‘akov’s sons, Shim‘on and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, boldly descended on the city and slaughtered all the males. 26They killed Hamor and Sh’khem his son with their swords, took Dinah out of Sh’khem’s house, and left. 27Then the sons of Ya‘akov entered over the dead bodies of those who had been slaughtered and plundered the city in reprisal for defiling their sister. 28They took their flocks, cattle and donkeys, and everything else, whether in the city or in the field, 29everything they owned. Their children and wives they took captive, and they looted whatever was in the houses.
30But Ya‘akov said to Shim‘on and Levi, “You have caused me trouble by making me stink in the opinion of the local inhabitants, the Kena‘ani and the P’rizi. Since I don’t have many people, they’ll align themselves together against me and attack me; and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” 31They replied, “Should we let our sister be treated like a whore?”
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34
The Rape of Dinah
1One day, Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to see the women of that place. 2She was seen by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area. Shechem took Dinah and raped her. 3But he was so attracted to her that he fell in love and began expressing his feelings to her. 4He told his father, “Please get this girl for me so that I can marry her.”
5Jacob learned that Shechem had done this very bad thing to his daughter. But all his sons were out in the fields with the cattle. So he did nothing until they came home. 6Then Shechem’s father, Hamor, came out to talk with Jacob.
7In the fields Jacob’s sons heard the news about what had happened. They were very angry because Shechem had brought shame to Israel by raping Jacob’s daughter. They came in from the fields as soon as they heard about the terrible thing Shechem had done.
8But Hamor talked to Dinah’s brothers and said, “My son Shechem wants Dinah very much. Please let him marry her. 9This marriage will show we have a special agreement. Then our men can marry your women, and your men can marry our women. 10You can live in the same land with us. You will be free to own the land and to trade here.”
11Shechem also talked to Jacob and to Dinah’s brothers and said, “Please accept me. I will do anything you ask me to do. 12I will give you any gift#34:12 gift Or “dowry.” Here, the money a man paid for a wife. you want if you will only allow me to marry Dinah. I will give you anything you ask, but let me marry her.”
13Jacob’s sons decided to lie to Shechem and his father because Shechem had done such a bad thing to their sister Dinah. 14The brothers said to them, “We cannot allow our sister to marry you because you are not yet circumcised. That would bring us shame. 15But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: Every man in your town must be circumcised like us. 16Then your men can marry our women, and our men can marry your women. Then we will become one people. 17If you refuse to be circumcised, we will take Dinah away.”
18This agreement made Hamor and Shechem very happy. 19Shechem was very happy to do what Dinah’s brothers asked.
Shechem was the most honored man in his family. 20Hamor and Shechem went to the meeting place of their city. They spoke to the men of the city and said, 21“These people want to be friends with us. We want to let them live in our land and be at peace with us. We have enough land for all of us. We are free to marry their women, and we are happy to give them our women to marry. 22But there is one thing that all our men must agree to do. They must agree to be circumcised as they are. 23If we do this, we will become rich from all their cattle and other animals. We should make this agreement with them so that they will stay here with us.” 24All the men who heard this in the meeting place agreed with Hamor and Shechem. And every man was circumcised at that time.
25Three days later the men who were circumcised were still sore. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, knew that the men would be weak at this time. So they went to the city and killed all the men there. 26Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left. 27Jacob’s sons went to the city and stole everything that was there because of what Shechem had done to their sister. 28So the brothers took all their animals, all their donkeys, and everything else in the city and in the fields. 29The brothers took everything those people owned. They even took their wives and children.
30But Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have caused me a lot of trouble. All the people in this place will hate me. All the Canaanites and the Perizzites will turn against me. There are only a few of us. If the people in this place gather together to fight against us, I will be destroyed. And all our people will be destroyed with me.”
31But the brothers said, “Should we let these people treat our sister like a prostitute? They were wrong to do that to our sister!”
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