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The Holy Bible

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The Book of Genesis

Chapter 34

  

Dinah and the Incident at Shechem

1
NOW
Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the young women of the area.  2  When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of that region, saw her, he seized her and raped her.  3  His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.  4  And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

5 When Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, his sons were out in the fields with his livestock. So Jacob held his peace until they came home.

6 Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor went out to speak with Jacob.  7  Jacob’s sons returned from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened, and they were grieved and very angry. Shechem had done a disgraceful thing against Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, something that should not be done.

8 But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.  9  Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.  10  Settle with us, and the land will be open before you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.”

11  Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favour in your eyes, and whatever you ask for I will give you.  12  Demand of me as high a bride price and as great a gift as you want, and I will pay you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl to be my wife.”

13  But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah.  14  They said to them, “We cannot do such a thing. Giving our sister to a man who is not circumcised would be a disgrace to us.  15  We will give our consent to you only on this condition: that you will become like us by circumcising all your males.  16  Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will settle among you and become one people.  17  But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, we will take our sister and go.”

18  Their proposal pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.  19  So the young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter, and he was the most honoured of all his father’s household.  20  So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak with the men of their city there.  21  “These men are friendly toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and trade in it, for the district is large enough for them. We can take their daughters as our wives, and give our daughters to them.  22  But the men agree to live with us and become one people only on the condition that all our men are circumcised as they are.  23  Won’t their livestock, their property, and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree give them our consent, and they will live among us.”

24  All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the men of the city were circumcised.

Jacob’s Sons Avenge Dinah

25  Three days later, when they were all still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, and they killed every male.  26  They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away.  27  The other sons of Jacob came to the slain and they plundered the city because their sister had been defiled.  28  They seized their flocks and herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and out in the fields.  29  They carried off all their wealth, and all their children and wives, and they plundered everything in the houses.

30  Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the people of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number, and if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

31  But they answered, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”