Genesis 34
34
The Rape of Dinah and the Massacre at Shechem
1Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. And he took her and lay with her and raped her. 3And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly#Literally “to the heart” to the girl. 4So Shechem said to Hamor his father, saying, “Get this girl for me as a wife.”
5And Jacob heard that Dinah his daughter had been defiled, but his sons were with his flocks in the field. And Jacob kept silent until they came. 6And Hamor, father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. And the men were distressed and very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations with the daughter of Jacob—something that#Literally “and thus” should not be done. 8And Hamor spoke with them saying, “Shechem my son is in love with#Literally “his soul longs for” your daughter. Please give her to him for a wife. 9Make marriages with us. Give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10You shall dwell with us and the land shall be before you; settle and trade in it, and acquire property in it.” 11Then Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will do. 12Make the bride price and gift as high as you like;#Literally “Increase upon me very bride price and gift” I will give what you say to me. But give me the girl as a wife.” 13Then the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor speaking deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace for us. 15Only on this condition will we give consent to you; if you will become like us—every male among you to be circumcised. 16Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take for ourselves your daughters, and we will live with you and become one family. 17But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our daughters and we will go.” 18And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem, the son of Hamor. 19And the young man did not delay to do the thing, for he wanted the daughter of Jacob. Now he was the most honored of his father’s house. 20Then Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21“These men are at peace with us. Let them dwell in the land and let them trade in it. Now, behold, the land is broad enough for them.#Literally “broad on sides before them” Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give our daughters to them. 22Only on this condition will they give consent to us, to live with us and to become one family—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us give consent to them so they will live among us.” 24And all those who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and Shechem. Every male was circumcised, all those who went out of the gate of his city. 25And it happened that on the third day, while they were in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, each took his sword and came against the unsuspecting city and killed all the males. 26They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah from the house of Shechem and went out. 27The other sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28They took their flocks and their cattle and their donkeys, and whatever was in the field. 29They captured and plundered all that was in the houses—all their wealth, their little ones, and their women. 30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites! I am few in number! If they gather against me and attack me, I will be destroyed—I and my household!” 31But they said, “Shall he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
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Genesis 34
34
1Dinah, Jacob and Leah's daughter, went to visit some of the local women. 2Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her. He grabbed hold of her and raped her. 3However, then he fell deeply in love with Dinah and tried to get her to love him too. 4He went and asked his father, “Get this young girl for me so I can marry her.”
5Jacob found out that Shechem had violated#34:5. “Violated”: the word here is the one used in connection with being unclean. his daughter Dinah, but as his sons were away looking after the flocks in the fields he didn't say anything until they came home. 6In the meantime Hamor, Shechem's father, arrived to talk with Jacob. 7When Jacob's sons returned from the fields they were very upset when they heard the news and became extremely angry because Shechem had done something outrageous in Israel by having sex with Jacob's daughter—something that should never be done.
8Hamor told them, “My son Shechem is very much in love with your daughter and your sister Dinah.#34:8. “And sister Dinah”: supplied for clarity, since Hamor is addressing both Jacob and his sons. Please allow him to marry her. 9In fact we can have more marriages—you can give us your daughters and you can have our daughters. 10You can live among us and settle down wherever you like. You can go where you want and buy land for yourselves.”
11Then Shechem himself spoke up, and said to Dinah's father and brothers, “Please accept me and my proposal, and I'll do whatever you ask. 12You can set the bride price as high as you like, and I'll pay it along with all the gifts I'll give. Just let me have the girl so I can marry her.”
13Jacob's sons weren't honest when they answered him and his father Hamor because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah. 14They told them, “We can't do this! We can't allow our sister to marry a man who's not circumcised. That would bring disgrace on us. 15We will only agree to it with this condition: all of you must be circumcised like us. 16Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters, and we will live among you and become one family. 17But if you don't agree with us that you should be circumcised, then we'll take our sister and leave.”
18Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to what was proposed. 19The young man Shechem didn't waste any time in arranging this because he was infatuated with Jacob's daughter, and he was viewed as the most important person in his father's family. 20Hamor and Shechem went to the town gate and spoke to the other leaders there.
21“These men are our friends,” they told them. “Let's have them live here in our country and allow them to go wherever they want—it's big enough for all of them too. We can take their daughters as wives, and we can give our daughters to them to marry. 22But they will only agree to this on one condition: they will only join us and become one family if every male among us is circumcised like they are. 23If that happens, won't all their livestock and property—all their animals—end up belonging to us? We just have to agree to this and they will come and live among us.”
24Everyone there at the town gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem so every male in the town was circumcised. 25Three days later while they were still suffering pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons and Dinah's brothers, came with their swords into the town. Unopposed, they slaughtered every male. 26They killed Hamor and Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.
27Jacob's other sons arrived, robbed the dead bodies, and looted the town where their sister had been violated. 28They took their sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. They took whatever was in the town, and in the fields— 29all their possessions. They captured all their women and children, and plundered everything in their homes.
30But Jacob criticized Simeon and Levi, telling them, “You've just caused me a lot of trouble! You've made me like a bad smell among the people in this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I only have a few men, and if these people gather to attack me, I and my whole family will be wiped out.”
31But they replied, “Should we have let him treat our sister like a prostitute?”
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com