Genesis34
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.
3His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.
4Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”
5Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.
6Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.
7The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done.
8Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”
11Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.
12Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”
13The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
14and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.
15Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised,
16then will we give our daughters to you; and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
17But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone.”
18Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.
19The young man didn’t wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.
20Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,
21“These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters to us for wives, and let’s give them our daughters.
22Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.
23Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”
24All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
26They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.
27Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,
29and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.
30Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”
31They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 34.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Dinah defiled by Shechem. (1–19). The Shechemites murdered by Simeon and Levi. (20–31).
vv1-19
Young persons, especially females, are never so safe and well off as under the care of pious parents. Their own ignorance, and the flattery and artifices of designing, wicked people, who are ever laying snares for them, expose them to great danger. They are their own enemies if they desire to go abroad, especially alone, among strangers to true religion. Those parents are very wrong who do not hinder their children from needlessly exposing themselves to danger. Indulged children, like Dinah, often become a grief and shame to their families. Her pretence was, to see the daughters of the land, to see how they dressed, and how they danced, and what was fashionable among them; she went to see, yet that was not all, she went to be seen too. She went to get acquaintance with the Canaanites, and to learn their ways. See what came of Dinah's gadding. The beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water. How great a matter does a little fire kindle! We should carefully avoid all occasions of sin and approaches to it.
vv20-31
The Shechemites submitted to the sacred rite, only to serve a turn, to please their prince, and to enrich themselves, and it was just with God to bring punishment upon them. As nothing secures us better than true religion, so nothing exposes us more than religion only pretended to. But Simeon and Levi were most unrighteous. Those who act wickedly, under the pretext of religion, are the worst enemies of the truth, and harden the hearts of many to destruction. The crimes of others form no excuse for us. Alas! how one sin leads on to another, and, like flames of fire, spread desolation in every direction! Foolish pleasures lead to seduction; seduction produces wrath; wrath thirsts for revenge; the thirst of revenge has recourse to treachery; treachery issues in murder; and murder is followed by other lawless actions. Were we to trace the history of unlawful commerce between the sexes, we should find it, more than any other sin, ending in blood.
Key Words
דִּינָה: Dinah, the daughter of Jacob
בַּת: a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)
לֵאָה: Leah, a wife of Jacob
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
יָלַד: to bear young; causatively, to beget; medically, to act as midwife; specifically, to show lineage
יַעֲקֹב: Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarch
יָצָא: to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
שְׁכֶם: Shekem, a place in Palestine
Cross References
Genesis 34Textual origin of 'wrought folly in Israel/against Israel', referring to forbidden sexual misconduct.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Jacob's deathbed prophecy denounces Simeon and Levi as brothers in violence, referencing this massacre.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jacob disavows their secret counsel and anger which led to the slaughter of the Shechemites.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jacob curses their fierce anger and cruel wrath, scattering their descendants in Israel.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallels the specific Hebrew phrase for committing a disgraceful, covenant-breaking folly in Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Mosaic law regarding the dowry and marriage requirements after a virgin is seduced.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The terror of God prevents neighboring cities from pursuing Jacob's family after the slaughter.
Supported by JFB
Another historical usage of the specific phrase denoting 'folly' and grave moral wickedness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Similar idiom of offering land 'before you' to live and trade freely.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates the ancient custom of presenting costly betrothal gifts and dowry to the family.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The sign of circumcision which Jacob's sons deceptively used as a weapon.
Supported by JFB
Achan is told he "troubled" Israel, using the same Hebrew root Jacob uses here.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The term "to make me to stink" reflects Israel's later status before Pharaoh.
Supported by Matthew Henry
New Testament reference using the Greek spelling Emmor for Hamor.
Supported by JFB
Tamar's protest echoes the language that such a folly 'ought not to be done' in Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Demonstrates the historical Israelite perspective viewing the uncircumcised as a major covenantal reproach.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the same local inhabitants, "the Canaanite and the Perizzite," dwelling in the land.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Refers to the patriarchs being "few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers."
Supported by Matthew Poole
Later Mosaic law strictly forbidding the very intermarriages Hamor proposes here.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the city gate as the central place of public transaction and consensus in Canaan.
Supported by JFB
Parallel to seeking religion only for material gain (meat, wealth, and substance).
Supported by Matthew Henry
Connects the brothers' ultimate violent actions to their initial deceitful response.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
The birth of Dinah to Leah, establishing her identity and parentage.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Uses the same Hebrew idiom of speaking kindly ('speaking to the heart') to win affection.
Supported by Matthew Poole, Calvin
He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house; matches the Shechemites' greed.
Supported by Matthew Henry