Genesis 34
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!”
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Genesis 34
34
1And Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she hath borne to Jacob, goeth out to look on the daughters of the land,
2and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, seeth her, and taketh her, and lieth with her, and humbleth her;
3and his soul cleaveth to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and he loveth the young person, and speaketh unto the heart of the young person.
4And Shechem speaketh unto Hamor his father, saying, ‘Take for me this damsel for a wife.’
5And Jacob hath heard that he hath defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob kept silent till their coming.
6And Hamor, father of Shechem, goeth out unto Jacob to speak with him;
7and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it [is] very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob — and so it is not done.
8And Hamor speaketh with them, saying, ‘Shechem, my son, his soul hath cleaved to your daughter; give her, I pray you, to him for a wife,
9and join ye in marriage with us; your daughters ye give to us, and our daughters ye take to yourselves,
10and with us ye dwell, and the land is before you; dwell ye and trade [in] it, and have possessions in it.’
11And Shechem saith unto her father, and unto her brethren, ‘Let me find grace in your eyes, and that which ye say unto me, I give;
12multiply on me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I give as ye say unto me, and give to me the young person for a wife.’
13And the sons of Jacob answer Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and they speak (because he defiled Dinah their sister),
14and say unto them, ‘We are not able to do this thing, to give our sister to one who hath a foreskin: for it [is] a reproach to us.
15‘Only for this we consent to you; if ye be as we, to have every male of you circumcised,
16then we have given our daughters to you, and your daughters we take to ourselves, and we have dwelt with you, and have become one people;
17and if ye hearken not unto us to be circumcised, then we have taken our daughter, and have gone.’
18And their words are good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor's son;
19and the young man delayed not to do the thing, for he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he is honourable above all the house of his father.
20And Hamor cometh — Shechem his son also — unto the gate of their city, and they speak unto the men of their city, saying,
21‘These men are peaceable with us; then let them dwell in the land, and trade [in] it; and the land, lo, [is] wide before them; their daughters let us take to ourselves for wives, and our daughters give to them.
22‘Only for this do the men consent to us, to dwell with us, to become one people, in every male of us being circumcised, as they are circumcised;
23their cattle, and their substance, and all their beasts — are they not ours? only let us consent to them, and they dwell with us.’
24And unto Hamor, and unto Shechem his son, hearken do all those going out of the gate of his city, and every male is circumcised, all those going out of the gate of his city.
25And it cometh to pass, on the third day, in their being pained, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, take each his sword, and come in against the city confidently, and slay every male;
26and Hamor, and Shechem his son, they have slain by the mouth of the sword, and they take Dinah out of Shechem's house, and go out.
27Jacob's sons have come in upon the wounded, and they spoil the city, because they had defiled their sister;
28their flock and their herd, and their asses, and that which [is] in the city, and that which [is] in the field, have they taken;
29and all their wealth, and all their infants, and their wives they have taken captive, and they spoil also all that [is] in the house.
30And Jacob saith unto Simeon and unto Levi, ‘Ye have troubled me, by causing me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite, and among the Perizzite: and I [am] few in number, and they have been gathered against me, and have smitten me, and I have been destroyed, I and my house.’
31And they say, ‘As a harlot doth he make our sister?’
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