GenesisChapter 34

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¹Dinah was the daughter Leah had with Jacob. One day she went out to visit the young women of that land. ²Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite was the prince of that area. When he saw Dinah, he took her and forced her to sleep with him. ³Then his heart was drawn to Dinah, Jacob's daughter. He loved the young girl and spoke kindly to her. ⁴So Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this girl to be my wife." ⁵Jacob heard that Shechem had made his daughter Dinah unclean. But his sons were out in the field with his animals. So Jacob said nothing about it until they came home. ⁶Meanwhile, Shechem's father Hamor came out to talk with Jacob. ⁷Jacob's sons heard what had happened, and they came back from the field. They were deeply hurt and very angry, because Shechem had done a shameful thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob's daughter. It was something that should never be done. ⁸But Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem really wants your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. ⁹Let our families marry each other. Give us your daughters, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You can live among us. The land will be open to you. Live here and travel around freely. Get land of your own." ¹¹Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Please do this kind thing for me. I will give you whatever you ask. ¹²Ask for a high bride price and a costly gift. I will give you whatever you ask. Just give me the girl to be my wife!" ¹³But Shechem had made their sister Dinah unclean. So Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with a trick. ¹⁴"We can't do that," they said. "We can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would bring shame on us. ¹⁵We will agree to it only if you do one thing. You must become circumcised like us. Every male among you must be circumcised. ¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters. We will take your daughters for ourselves. We will live among you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷But if you won't agree to be circumcised, we will take our sister and leave." ¹⁸Hamor and his son Shechem liked their offer. ¹⁹The young man was the most respected person in his father's whole family. He did not wait to do what they asked, because he was so happy with Jacob's daughter. ²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city. They spoke to the men of the city. ²¹"These men are friendly to us," they said. "Let them live in our land and trade here. The land is big enough for them. Let's marry their daughters and give our daughters to them. ²²But the men will agree to live with us and be one people on only one condition. All our men must be circumcised, just as they are. ²³Won't their herds, their things, and all their animals become ours? Let's just agree with them. Then they will live among us." ²⁴All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male in the city was circumcised. ²⁵Three days later, the men were still in pain. Then two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, took their swords. They were Dinah's brothers. They went into the city, which did not expect an attack. They killed every male. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords. They took Dinah out of Shechem's house and left. ²⁷Jacob's other sons came upon the dead bodies. They robbed the city, because their sister had been made unclean. ²⁸They took the flocks, herds, and donkeys. They took everything else in the city and in the fields. ²⁹They carried off all the people's wealth, and their women and children. They took everything in their houses. ³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me! You have made the people of this land hate me, the Canaanites and Perizzites. There are only a few of us. If they join together and attack me, I will be wiped out, and so will my family." ³¹But they answered, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"