Genesis 34
34
The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons
1Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to #34:1 Lit seevisit the daughters of the land. 2When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her. 3But #34:3 Lit His soul clunghe was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and #34:3 Lit spoke to the heart of the girlspoke tenderly to her. 4So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” 5Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob said nothing until they came in. 6Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a #34:7 Lit senselessdisgraceful thing in Israel by #34:7 I.e., violating hersleeping with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.
8But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him #34:8 Lit for a wifein marriage. 9And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 10So you will live with us, and the land shall be #34:10 Lit before youopen to you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.” 11Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give whatever you tell me. 12Demand of me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give whatever you tell me; but give me the girl #34:12 Lit for a wifein marriage.”
13But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised, 16then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. 17But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”
18Now their words seemed #34:18 Lit goodreasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19The young man did not delay to do #34:19 Lit the thingthis, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. 20So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying, 21“These men are #34:21 Lit peacefulfriendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is #34:21 Lit wide of hands before themlarge enough for them. We will take their daughters #34:21 Lit to us for wivesin marriage, and give our daughters to them. 22Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised. 23Will their livestock and their property and all their animals not be ours? Let’s just consent to them, and they will live with us.” 24All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons—Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers—each took his sword and came upon the city undetected, and killed every male. 26They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. 27Jacob’s sons came upon those killed and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28They took their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; 29and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even everything that was in the houses. 30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and #34:30 Lit I, few in numbersince my men are few in number, they will band together against me and #34:30 Lit strikeattack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!” 31But they said, “Should he #34:31 Or maketreat our sister like a prostitute?”
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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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