(BA) Genesis 34

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The text below is adapted from the ASV.

1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and violated her. 3 And his soul clung to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman, and spoke kindly to the young woman. 4 And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, Get me this young woman as wife. 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his livestock in the field, and Jacob held his peace until they came.

6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it, and the men were filled with pain and anger, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, which thing ought not to be done. 8 And Hamor spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please, give her to him as wife. 9 Intermarry with us; give your daughters, to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 Dwell with us, and the land will be before you; dwell and trade in it, and get possessions in it.

11 And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give what you tell me, but give me the young woman as wife.

13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, 14 and said to them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to someone uncircumcised, because that is a reproach to us. 15 Only on this condition we will consent to you, if you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised. 16 Then we will 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. 17 But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.

18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Hamor's son Shechem. 18 And the young man did not hesitate to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. And he was honored above all the house of his father. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying, 21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade in it. Look now, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to ourselves as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men consent to us, to dwell with him, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us. 24 And to Hamor and to Shechem his son they listened, all who went out of the gate of his city, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

25 Now, on the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city by surprise, and killed all the males. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds and their asses, and whatever was in the city, and whatever was in the field, 29 and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, and took them captive as plunder, all that was in the house.

30 And Jacob 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. And as I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.

31 And they said, Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?

(34:2) violated. The word in Hebrew is a word used for imposing mistreatment, oppression, or humiliation on another person, and in sexual contexts carries an implication of rape, although I think it is not a perfect equivalent of the English "rape". The ASV reads "humbled", although this is archaic, and the KJV has "defiled", which focuses perhaps too much on the "impurity" aspect of the act, and not enough on the coercive implications of the word.

(34:3) spoke kindly to. Literally, spoke to the heart of.

(34:5) defiled. This time, the Hebrew term is tmʔ, which does speak of impurity, as opposed to ʕnh, which is about humiliation, degradation, violence, or oppression. Unfortunately, the KJV flattens this distinction by translating both in this story as "defile". The ASV does make a distinction, between "humble" and "defile", but "humble" is archaic for this sort of use.

(34:7) done a disgraceful thing in Israel. This sounds odd, because there doesn't seem to have been a country called "Israel" at this point in the narrative. However, "to do a disgraceful thing in Israel" is an idiom which appears elsewhere in the Bible as well: see Genesis 34:7, Deuteronomy 22:21, Judges 20:6, Jeremiah 29:23. According to BDB it means "to do a thing disgraceful according to Israel's standard."

(35:11) her father. BHK reads abiha, but BHS reads abih. The reading of the Leningrad Codex is abih, but many manuscripts and editions have abiha (BHS).

(34:25) by surprise. ASV marginal note: "Or boldly."

ASV. The American Standard Version of the Bible, as published in 1901 by Thomas Nelson and Sons.

BHK. Biblia Hebraica Kittel, 1909.

BHS. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1997.

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