Genesis 34
34
Chapter 34
Dinah
1Dinah was the daughter of Leah and Jacob. One day she went out to visit the young women who lived near Shechem city. 2Hamor the Hivite ruled that region. When his son, Shechem, saw Dinah, he took hold of her. Dinah could not get free and Shechem had sex with her. 3He liked Dinah very much. He loved her. He spoke kind words to her so that she would love him too. 4Shechem said to his father, Hamor, ‘I want to marry this girl. Please get her for me.’ 5Jacob heard that Shechem had had sex with his daughter. At that time, Jacob's sons were taking care of his animals in the fields. So he did not do anything until his sons came home.
6Shechem's father, Hamor, went to talk to Jacob about Dinah. 7Jacob's sons now heard what had happened and they came home from the fields. They were very angry because Shechem had done such a bad thing. When he caught Dinah and had sex with her, he had brought shame on Jacob's family. It was a bad thing that nobody should ever do.
8Hamor said to Jacob and his sons, ‘My son Shechem loves your daughter. Please give her to him so that she can be his wife. 9There should be more marriages between your people and our people. Our men should marry your daughters and our daughters should become wives for your men. 10Then you can live among us. You can live anywhere you want to in this land. You should live here, buy and sell things. Buy land and houses here.’ #34:10 Hamor wanted the Hivites to have some of Jacob's riches.
11Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, ‘I would like to make you happy. So ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you. 12I will pay you the gifts that you ask for Dinah. It can be as much as you like. I will pay it all, because I want to have Dinah as my wife.’
13Because of the bad thing that Shechem had done to Dinah, Jacob's sons decided to deceive him. And they deceived his father Hamor too. 14They said, ‘We cannot give our sister to a man who has not been circumcised. We would be ashamed to do this. 15If you want to marry Dinah, you must do one thing. You must circumcise all your males. Then you will become like us and we will agree for you to marry Dinah. 16Then we will give you our daughters so that your men can marry them. And our men will marry your daughters. We will live among you, so that we become one people with you. 17But your men must agree to be circumcised. If not, we will take our sister with us and we will leave this place.’
18This idea seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19Shechem's family respected him as an important person. So Shechem and his father quickly did what Jacob's sons told them. Shechem agreed to do it because he wanted very much to marry Dinah. 20So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of the city. They spoke to their men there. 21They said, ‘Jacob's family are our friends. Let them live in our land, and buy and sell things. This land is big enough for them and us. We can marry their daughters, and they can marry our daughters. 22But we must do the one thing that they have asked us to do. We must circumcise all our males in the same way that they do. If we do that, they will agree to live among us. 23Then their things and their animals will all become our things. So we should agree to be circumcised, as they ask. Then they will live among us.’
24All the men who were at the city gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem. So every male in the city was circumcised.
25Three days after the men were circumcised, they still had a lot of pain. Then two of Jacob's sons attacked Shechem's men with their swords. None of the men were ready to fight. Jacob's two sons were Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers. They killed every male in the city. 26They killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah from Shechem's house and they left.
27Jacob's other sons also saw that the men of the city were dead. So they took everything that they wanted from the city. They did that because it was the place where Shechem had done a very bad thing against their sister. 28They took all the sheep, goats, cows and donkeys. They took everything that was in the city and in the fields near there. 29They carried away every valuable thing for themselves. They also took all the men's wives and their children. They took everything from the houses in the city.
30When they returned to Jacob, he said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought bad trouble to me! The people who live in this land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, will hate me. I will be like a bad smell to them. We do not have many men to fight for us. If the Perizzites and Canaanites join together and they attack us, they will destroy our whole family!’ 31But Simeon and Levi replied, ‘Shechem should not have had sex with our sister as if she were a prostitute.’
MissionAssist 2018
Genesis 34
34
1 NOW DINAH daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out [unattended] to see the girls of the place.
2 And when Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he seized her, lay with her, and humbled, defiled, and disgraced her.
3 But his soul longed for and clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke comfortingly to her young heart's wishes.
4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, Get me this girl to be my wife.
5 Jacob heard that [Shechem] had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field. So Jacob held his peace until they came.
6 But Hamor father of Shechem went out to Jacob to have a talk with him.
7 When Jacob's sons heard it, they came from the field; and they were distressed and grieved and very angry, for [Shechem] had done a vile thing to Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter, which ought not to be done.
8 And Hamor conferred with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem craves your daughter [and sister]. I beg of you give her to him to be his wife.
9 And make marriages with us and give your daughters to us and take our daughters to you.
10 You shall dwell with us; the country will be open to you; live and trade and get your possessions in it.
11 And Shechem said to [Dinah's] father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask of me.
12 Ask me ever so much dowry and [marriage] gift, and I will give according to what you tell me; only give me the girl to be my wife.
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, [justifying their intended action by saying, in effect, we are going to do this] because Shechem had defiled and disgraced their sister Dinah.
14 They said to them, We cannot do this thing and give our sister to one who is not circumcised, for that would be a reproach and disgrace to us.
15 But we do consent to do this: if you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised,
16 Then we will give our daughters to you and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you and become one people.
17 But if you will not listen to us and consent to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.
18 Their words pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, for he delighted in Jacob's daughter. He was honored above all his family [so, ranking first, he acted first].
20 Then Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their [enclosed] town and discussed the matter with the citizens, saying,
21 These men are peaceable with us; so let them dwell in the land and trade in it; for the land is large enough [for us and] for them; let us take their daughters for wives and let us give them our daughters.
22 But the men will consent to our request that they live among us and be one people only on condition that every male among us be circumcised, as they are.
23 Shall not their cattle and their possessions and all their beasts be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell here with us.
24 And all the people who went out of the town gate listened and heeded what Hamor and Shechem said; and every male was circumcised who was a resident of that town.
25 But on the third day [after the circumcision] when [all the men] were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without danger], and slew all the males.
26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house [where she had been all this time] and departed.
27 [Then the rest of] Jacob's [eleven] sons came upon the slain and plundered the town, because there their sister had been defiled and disgraced.
28 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the town and in the field;
29 All their wealth and all their little ones and their wives they took captive, making spoil even of all [they found] in the houses.
30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have ruined me, making me infamous and embroiling me with the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! And we are few in number, and they will gather together against me and attack me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my household.
31 And they said, Should he [be permitted to] deal with our sister as with a harlot?
1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation