Genesis 34

The Defiling of Dinahⓘ

Shechem seizes Dinah and asks to marry her¹Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. ³And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly. ⁴So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

⁵Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned. ⁶Meanwhile, Shechemʼs father Hamor came to speak with Jacob. ⁷When Jacobʼs sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel^a by lying with Jacobʼs daughter—a thing that should not be done.

⁸But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹Intermarry with us; give us your daughters, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.”

¹¹Then Shechem said to Dinahʼs father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹²Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”

The Revenge of Dinahʼs Brothersⓘ

The brothers' deceitful condition¹³But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacobʼs sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully. ¹⁴“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males. ¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.”

¹⁸Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹The young man, who was the most respected of all his fatherʼs household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacobʼs daughter.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city: ²¹“These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them. ²²But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are. ²³Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.”

²⁴All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised.

Simeon and Levi's massacre²⁵Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacobʼs sons (Dinahʼs brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechemʼs house, and went away.

²⁷Jacobʼs other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field. ²⁹They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

³¹But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”