34:1 Now Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went to meet 9 the young women 10 of the land.
11:1 The whole earth 11 had a common language and a common vocabulary. 12
1 tn Heb “and Amnon hated her with very great hatred.”
2 tn Heb “for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he loved her.”
3 tn Heb “Jacob loved.”
4 tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”
5 sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.
6 tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “his soul stuck to [or “joined with”],” meaning Shechem became very attached to Dinah emotionally.
8 tn Heb “and he spoke to the heart of the young woman,” which apparently refers in this context to tender, romantic speech (Hos 2:14). Another option is to translate the expression “he reassured the young woman” (see Judg 19:3, 2 Sam 19:7; cf. NEB “comforted her”).
9 tn Heb “went out to see.” The verb “to see,” followed by the preposition בְּ (bÿ), here has the idea of “look over.” The young girl wanted to meet these women and see what they were like.
10 tn Heb “daughters.”
11 sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.
12 tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.