1Dinah was the daughter Leah had by Jacob. Dinah went out to visit the women of the land.2Hamor, the Hivite, was the ruler of that area. When his son Shechem saw Dinah, he took her and raped her.3Then he longed for Jacob’s daughter Dinah. He fell in love with her and spoke tenderly to her.4Shechem said to his father Hamor, ‘Get me that young woman. I want her to be my wife.’5Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been raped. His sons were in the fields with his livestock. So he did nothing about it until they came home.6Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob.7Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields. They came as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and very angry. Shechem had done a very terrible thing. He had forced Jacob’s daughter to have sex with him. He had done something that should never be done in Israel.8But Hamor said to Jacob and his sons, ‘My son Shechem wants your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.9Let your people and ours get married to each other. Give us your daughters as our wives. You can have our daughters as your wives.10You can live among us. Here is the land. Live in it. Trade in it. Buy property in it.’11Then Shechem spoke to Dinah’s father and brothers. He said, ‘I want to please you. I’ll give you anything you ask for.12Make the price for the bride as high as you want to. I’ll pay you whatever you ask. Just give me the young woman. I want to marry her.’13Their sister Dinah had been raped. So Jacob’s sons lied to Shechem and his father Hamor.14They said to them, ‘We can’t do it. We can’t give our sister to a man who isn’t circumcised. That would bring shame on us.15We’ll agree, but only on one condition. You will have to become like us. You will have to circumcise all your males.16Then we’ll give you our daughters as your wives. And we’ll take your daughters as our wives. We’ll live among you and become one big family with you.17But if you won’t agree to be circumcised, then we’ll take our sister and go.’18Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.19The young man was the most honoured of all his father’s family. He didn’t lose any time in doing what Dinah’s father and brothers had said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.20Hamor and his son Shechem went to the city gate. They spoke to the other men there.21‘These men are friendly towards us,’ they said. ‘Let them live in our land. Let them trade in it. The land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters. And they can marry ours.22But they will agree to live with us as one big family only on one condition. All our males must be circumcised, just as they are.23Won’t their livestock and their property belong to us? Won’t all their animals become ours? So let’s say yes to them. Then they’ll live among us.’24All the men who went out through the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem. So every male in the city was circumcised.25Three days later, all of them were still in pain. Then Simeon and Levi took their swords. They were Jacob’s sons and Dinah’s brothers. They attacked the city when the people didn’t expect it. They killed every male.26They also used their swords to kill Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left.27Jacob’s other sons found the dead bodies. They robbed the city where their sister had been raped.28They took the flocks and herds and donkeys. They took everything in the city and in the fields.29They carried everything away. And they took all the women and children. They took away everything in the houses.30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me. Now I’m like a very bad smell to the Canaanites and Perizzites who live in this land. There aren’t many of us. They may join together against me and attack me. Then I and my family will be destroyed.’31But they replied, ‘Should Shechem have treated our sister like a prostitute?’
Genesis 34
English Standard Version
The Defiling of Dinah
1Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. (Ge 30:21)2And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. (Ac 7:16)3And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.4So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” (Jud 14:2)5Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.6And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.7The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. (Ge 20:9; Ge 34:31; Ge 49:7; Jos 7:15; Jud 20:6; 2Sa 13:12)8But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your[1] daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.9Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.10You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” (Ge 13:9; Ge 20:15; Ge 34:21; Ge 42:34; Ge 47:27)11Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. (Ge 33:15)12Ask me for as great a bride-price[2] and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” (Ex 22:16; De 22:29; 1Sa 18:25)13The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.14They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. (Jos 5:9)15Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised.16Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people.17But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”18Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem.19And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father’s house. (1Ch 4:9)20So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, (Ru 4:1)21“These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. (Ge 34:10; Ge 42:34)22Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised.23Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.”24And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. (Ge 23:10)25On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. (Ge 29:33; Ge 30:21; Ge 49:5)26They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away.27The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.28They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.29All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” (Ge 13:7; Ge 15:20; Ex 5:21; Jos 7:25; 1Sa 13:4; 1Sa 27:12; 2Sa 10:6; 2Sa 16:21; 1Ch 16:19; 1Ch 19:6; Ps 105:12)31But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”