Genesis 34

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

Dinah, Jacob and Leah's daughter, went to visit some of the local women.

2 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.

Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her. He grabbed hold of her and raped her.

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

However, then he fell deeply in love with Dinah and tried to get her to love him too.

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

He went and asked his father, “Get this young girl for me so I can marry her.”

5 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.

Jacob found out that Shechem had violated 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.

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

In the meantime Hamor, Shechem's father, arrived to talk with Jacob.

7 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!”

When 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.

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

Hamor told them, “My son Shechem is very much in love with your daughter and your sister Dinah. Please allow him to marry her.

9 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.

In fact we can have more marriages—you can give us your daughters and you can have our daughters.

10 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.”

You can live among us and settle down wherever you like. You can go where you want and buy land for yourselves.”

11 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.

Then 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.

12 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.”

You 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.”

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

Jacob's sons weren't honest when they answered him and his father Hamor because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah.

14 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.

They 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.

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

We will only agree to it with this condition: all of you must be circumcised like us.

16 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.

Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters, and we will live among you and become one family.

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

But if you don't agree with us that you should be circumcised, then we'll take our sister and leave.”

18 What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.

Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to what was proposed.

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

The 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.

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

Hamor and Shechem went to the town gate and spoke to the other leaders there.

21 “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.

“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.

22 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.

But 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.

23 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!”

If 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.”

24 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.

Everyone there at the town gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem so every male in the town was circumcised.

25 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.

Three 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.

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

They killed Hamor and Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.

27 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.

Jacob's other sons arrived, robbed the dead bodies, and looted the town where their sister had been violated.

28 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.

They took their sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. They took whatever was in the town, and in the fields—

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

all their possessions. They captured all their women and children, and plundered everything in their homes.

30 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!”

But 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.”

31 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]

But they replied, “Should we have let him treat our sister like a prostitute?”