Genesis 34:9-31

34:9 Intermarry with us. ¹  Let us marry your daughters, and take our daughters as wives for yourselves. ²  34:10 You may live ³  among us, and the land will be open to you. ⁴  Live in it, travel freely in it, ⁵  and acquire property in it.”

34:11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s ⁶  father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me ⁷  I’ll give. ⁸  34:12 You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, ⁹  and I’ll give ¹⁰  whatever you ask ¹¹  of me. Just give me the young woman as my wife!”

34:13 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully when they spoke because Shechem ¹²  had violated their sister Dinah. 34:14 They said to them, “We cannot give ¹³  our sister to a man who is not circumcised, for it would be a disgrace ¹⁴  to us. 34:15 We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become ¹⁵  like us by circumcising ¹⁶  all your males. 34:16 Then we will give ¹⁷  you our daughters to marry, ¹⁸  and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. 34:17 But if you do not agree to our terms ¹⁹  by being circumcised, then we will take ²⁰  our sister ²¹  and depart.”

34:18 Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem. ²²  34:19 The young man did not delay in doing what they asked ²³  because he wanted Jacob’s daughter Dinah ²⁴  badly. (Now he was more important ²⁵  than anyone in his father’s household.) ²⁶  34:20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate ²⁷  of their city and spoke to the men of their city, 34:21 “These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ²⁸  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ²⁹  34:22 Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand ³⁰  that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised. 34:23 If we do so, ³¹  won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.”

34:24 All the men who assembled at the city gate ³²  agreed with ³³  Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male who assembled at the city gate ³⁴  was circumcised. 34:25 In three days, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword ³⁵  and went to the unsuspecting city ³⁶  and slaughtered every male. 34:26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. 34:27 Jacob’s sons killed them ³⁷  and looted the city because their sister had been violated. ³⁸  34:28 They took their flocks, herds, and donkeys, as well as everything in the city and in the surrounding fields. ³⁹  34:29 They captured as plunder ⁴⁰  all their wealth, all their little ones, and their wives, including everything in the houses.

34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ⁴¹  on me by making me a foul odor ⁴²  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ⁴³  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!” 34:31 But Simeon and Levi replied, ⁴⁴  “Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?”

[34:9]  ¹ tn Heb “form marriage alliances with us.”

[34:9]  ² tn Heb “Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.” In the translation the words “let…marry” and “as wives” are supplied for clarity.

[34:10]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.

[34:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “before you.”

[34:10]  ⁵ tn The verb seems to carry the basic meaning “travel about freely,” although the substantival participial form refers to a trader (see E. A. Speiser, “The Verb sh£r in Genesis and Early Hebrew Movements,” BASOR 164 [1961]: 23-28); cf. NIV, NRSV “trade in it.”

[34:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Dinah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “whatever you say.”

[34:11]  ⁸ tn Or “pay.”

[34:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Make very great upon me the bride price and gift.” The imperatives are used in a rhetorical manner. Shechem’s point is that he will pay the price, no matter how expensive it might be.

[34:12]  ¹⁰ tn The cohortative expresses Shechem’s resolve to have Dinah as his wife.

[34:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “say.”

[34:13]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Shechem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “we are not able to do this thing, to give.” The second infinitive is in apposition to the first, explaining what they are not able to do.

[34:14]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word translated “disgrace” usually means “ridicule; taunt; reproach.” It can also refer to the reason the condition of shame or disgrace causes ridicule or a reproach.

[34:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “if you are like us.”

[34:15]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive here explains how they would become like them.

[34:16]  ¹⁷ tn The perfect verbal form with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces the apodosis of the conditional sentence.

[34:16]  ¹⁸ tn The words “to marry” (and the words “as wives” in the following clause) are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “listen to us.”

[34:17]  ²⁰ tn The perfect verbal form with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces the apodosis of the conditional sentence.

[34:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “daughter.” Jacob’s sons call Dinah their daughter, even though she was their sister (see v. 8). This has been translated as “sister” for clarity.

[34:18]  ²² tn Heb “and their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem son of Hamor.”

[34:19]  ²³ tn Heb “doing the thing.”

[34:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Jacob’s daughter.” The proper name “Dinah” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:19]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew verb כָּבֵד (kaved), translated “was…important,” has the primary meaning “to be heavy,” but here carries a secondary sense of “to be important” (that is, “heavy” in honor or respect).

[34:19]  ²⁶ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause explains why the community would respond to him (see vv. 20-24).

[34:20]  ²⁷ sn The gate. In an ancient Near Eastern city the gate complex was the location for conducting important public business.

[34:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “wide on both hands,” that is, in both directions.

[34:21]  ²⁹ tn The words “to marry” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:22]  ³⁰ tn Heb “when every one of our males is circumcised.”

[34:23]  ³¹ tn The words “If we do so” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[34:24]  ³² tn Heb “all those going out the gate of his city.”

[34:24]  ³³ tn Heb “listened to.”

[34:24]  ³⁴ tn Heb “all those going out the gate of his city.”

[34:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “a man his sword.”

[34:25]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and they came upon the city, [which was] secure.” In this case “secure” means the city was caught unprepared and at peace, not expecting an attack.

[34:27]  ³⁷ tn Heb “came upon the slain.” Because of this statement the preceding phrase “Jacob’s sons” is frequently taken to mean the other sons of Jacob besides Simeon and Levi, but the text does not clearly affirm this.

[34:27]  ³⁸ tn Heb “because they violated their sister.” The plural verb is active in form, but with no expressed subject, it may be translated passive.

[34:28]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and what was in the city and what was in the field they took.”

[34:29]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they took captive and they plundered,” that is, “they captured as plunder.”

[34:30]  ⁴¹ tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.

[34:30]  ⁴² tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.

[34:30]  ⁴³ tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.

[34:31]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “but they said.” The referent of “they” (Simeon and Levi) have been specified in the translation for clarity.