Genesis 34

1 And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that country.

One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women in that area.

2 And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin.

Shechem, one of the sons of Hamor, the ruler of that area who was descended from the Hiv people-group, saw her. He wanted her. So he grabbed her and forced her to have sex [EUP] with him.

3 And his soul was fast knit unto her, and whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words.

He [SYN] was very much attracted to her, and fell in love with her, and he tried to get her to love him.

4 And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to wife.

So Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Please get this girl for me. I want her to become my wife!”

5 But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back.

Jacob very soon found out that his daughter Dinah had been disgraced/defiled. But his sons were in the fields with his livestock, so he did nothing about it until they returned home.

6 And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to Jacob,

In the meantime, Shechem’s father Hamor went to talk with Jacob.

7 Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed, they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel, and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob’s daughter,

While they were still talking, Jacob’s sons came in from the field. When they found out what had happened, they were shocked and very angry. They said, “Shechem has done something that is very disgraceful among us Israeli people, something that never should be done!”

8 And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing for your daughter: give her him to wife:

But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem really likes this girl. Please allow him to marry her.

9 And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your daughters and take you our daughters,

Let’s make an agreement: You will give your daughters to our young men to be their wives, and we will give our daughters to your young men to be their wives.

10 And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and possess it.

You can live among us, and live anywhere in our land that you wish. You can buy and sell things (OR, travel around) and if you find land that you want, then you can buy it.”

11 Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find favour in your sight: and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give.

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “If you feel good toward me and do what I am asking for, I will give you whatever you ask for.

12 Raise the dowry, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife.

Tell me what gifts you want and what bride price you want, and I will give you what you ask for. I just want you to give the girl to me to be my wife.”

13 The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully, being enraged at the deflowering of their sister:

But because Shechem had done a shameful thing to their sister Dinah, the sons of Jacob deceived Shechem and his father Hamor

14 We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, which with us is unlawful and abominable.

by saying to them, “No, we cannot do that. We cannot give our sister to be the wife of a man who is not circumcised, because that would be a shameful thing for us to do.

15 But in this we may be allied with you, if you will be like us, and all the male sex among you be circumcised:

We will do that only if you do one thing: You must become like us by circumcising all the males that are among you.

16 Then will we mutually give and take your daughters, and ours: and we will dwell with you, and will be one people:

Then we will give our daughters to your young men to be your wives, and we will take your daughters to be the wives of our young men. We will live among you, and we will become one people-group.

17 But if you will not be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart:

But if you will not agree to being circumcised, we will take our sister and go back to our land.”

18 Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem his son:

What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.

19 And the young man made no delay, but forthwith fulfilled what was required, for he loved the damsel exceedingly, and he was the greatest man in all his father’s house.

Shechem was very much in love with Jacob’s daughter, so he quickly agreed to do what they suggested.

20 And going into the gate of the city they spoke to the people:

Shechem went with Hamor to the meeting place near the city gate, and they spoke to the city leaders, saying,

21 These men are peaceable and willing to dwell with us: let them trade in the land, and till it, which being large and wide wanteth men to till it: we shall take their daughters for wives, and we will give them ours.

“These men are friendly toward us. We should let them live here and travel around (OR, buy and sell things) and if they find land that they want, they can buy it. There is plenty of land for them to live here. Our young men can marry their daughters, and their young men can marry our daughters.

22 One thing there is for which so great a good is deferred: We must circumcise every male among us, following the manner of the nation.

But these men will agree to live among us and become one people-group with us only if all our males are circumcised, as they are.

23 And their substance, and cattle, and all that they possess, shall be ours: only in this let us condescend, and by dwelling together, we shall make one people.

But if we do that, just think! Their livestock and their possessions and their other animals will become ours [RHQ]! So we should agree to do what they suggest, and then they will live among us!”

24 And they all agreed, and circumcised all the males.

Shechem was the most respected person in his father’s household, so all the men who were there at the city gate agreed to what Hamor and Shechem suggested. So every male in the city was circumcised.

25 And behold the third day, when the pain of the wound was greatest, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dina, taking their swords, entered boldly into the city, and slew all the men:

On the third day after that, when the men of the city were still sore because of being circumcised, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and entered the city without anyone opposing them, and killed all the men.

26 And they killed also Hemor and Sichem, and took away their sister Dina, out of Sichem’s house.

They even killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left the city.

27 And when they were gone out, the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain; and plundered the city in revenge of the rape.

Then the other sons of Jacob went into the city where all those dead bodies were. They (looted/took everything in) the city to get revenge for the shameful thing that had been done to their sister.

28 And they took their sheep and their herds and their asses, wasting all they had in their houses and in the fields.

They took away the people’s sheep and goats, their cattle, their donkeys, and everything else that they wanted from inside the city and from out in the countryside.

29 And their children and wives they took captive,

They took away everything that was valuable, even the children and the women. They seized and took away everything that was in the houses.

30 And when they had boldly perpetrated these things, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me, and made me hateful to the Chanaanites and Pherezites, the inhabitants of this land: we are few: they will gather themselves together and kill me; and both I, and my house, shall be destroyed.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have caused a lot of trouble for me! Now the Canaan people-group and the Perizzi people-group and everyone else who lives in this land will (hate me/say my name stinks)! I do not have many men to fight for us, so if they all gather together and come to me and attack us, they will destroy us and all our household!”

31 They answered: Should they abuse our sister as a strumpet?

But they replied, “(Should we have allowed Shechem to treat our sister like a prostitute?/We could not just let Shechem treat our sister like a prostitute!)” [RHQ]