Genesis 34
EasyEnglish Bible
Dinah
34 Dinah was the daughter of Leah and Jacob. One day she went out to visit the young women who lived near Shechem city. 2 Hamor the Hivite ruled that region. When his son, Shechem, saw Dinah, he took hold of her. Dinah could not get free and Shechem had sex with her. 3 He liked Dinah very much. He loved her. He spoke kind words to her so that she would love him too. 4 Shechem said to his father, Hamor, ‘I want to marry this girl. Please get her for me.’ 5 Jacob heard that Shechem had had sex with his daughter. At that time, Jacob's sons were taking care of his animals in the fields. So he did not do anything until his sons came home.
6 Shechem's father, Hamor, went to talk to Jacob about Dinah. 7 Jacob's sons now heard what had happened and they came home from the fields. They were very angry because Shechem had done such a bad thing. When he caught Dinah and had sex with her, he had brought shame on Jacob's family. It was a bad thing that nobody should ever do.
8 Hamor said to Jacob and his sons, ‘My son Shechem loves your daughter. Please give her to him so that she can be his wife. 9 There should be more marriages between your people and our people. Our men should marry your daughters and our daughters should become wives for your men. 10 Then you can live among us. You can live anywhere you want to in this land. You should live here, buy and sell things. Buy land and houses here.’[a]
11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, ‘I would like to make you happy. So ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you. 12 I will pay you the gifts that you ask for Dinah. It can be as much as you like. I will pay it all, because I want to have Dinah as my wife.’
13 Because of the bad thing that Shechem had done to Dinah, Jacob's sons decided to deceive him. And they deceived his father Hamor too. 14 They said, ‘We cannot give our sister to a man who has not been circumcised. We would be ashamed to do this. 15 If you want to marry Dinah, you must do one thing. You must circumcise all your males. Then you will become like us and we will agree for you to marry Dinah. 16 Then we will give you our daughters so that your men can marry them. And our men will marry your daughters. We will live among you, so that we become one people with you. 17 But your men must agree to be circumcised. If not, we will take our sister with us and we will leave this place.’
18 This idea seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19 Shechem's family respected him as an important person. So Shechem and his father quickly did what Jacob's sons told them. Shechem agreed to do it because he wanted very much to marry Dinah. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of the city. They spoke to their men there. 21 They said, ‘Jacob's family are our friends. Let them live in our land, and buy and sell things. This land is big enough for them and us. We can marry their daughters, and they can marry our daughters. 22 But we must do the one thing that they have asked us to do. We must circumcise all our males in the same way that they do. If we do that, they will agree to live among us. 23 Then their things and their animals will all become our things. So we should agree to be circumcised, as they ask. Then they will live among us.’
24 All the men who were at the city gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem. So every male in the city was circumcised.
25 Three days after the men were circumcised, they still had a lot of pain. Then two of Jacob's sons attacked Shechem's men with their swords. None of the men were ready to fight. Jacob's two sons were Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers. They killed every male in the city. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah from Shechem's house and they left.
27 Jacob's other sons also saw that the men of the city were dead. So they took everything that they wanted from the city. They did that because it was the place where Shechem had done a very bad thing against their sister. 28 They took all the sheep, goats, cows and donkeys. They took everything that was in the city and in the fields near there. 29 They carried away every valuable thing for themselves. They also took all the men's wives and their children. They took everything from the houses in the city.
30 When they returned to Jacob, he said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought bad trouble to me! The people who live in this land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, will hate me. I will be like a bad smell to them. We do not have many men to fight for us. If the Perizzites and Canaanites join together and they attack us, they will destroy our whole family!’ 31 But Simeon and Levi replied, ‘Shechem should not have had sex with our sister as if she were a prostitute.’
Footnotes
- 34:10 Hamor wanted the Hivites to have some of Jacob's riches.
Genesis 34
English Standard Version
The Defiling of Dinah
34 Now (A)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of (B)Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem (C)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and (D)very angry, because he (E)had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, (F)for such a thing must not be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your[a] daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and (G)the land shall be open to you. Dwell and (H)trade in it, and (I)get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, (J)“Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a (K)bride-price[b] and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for (L)that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now (M)he was the most honored of all his father's house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem (N)came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and (O)trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who (P)went out of the gate of his city.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, (Q)Simeon and Levi, (R)Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. 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, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, (S)“You have brought trouble on me (T)by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, (U)the Canaanites and the Perizzites. (V)My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
Footnotes
- Genesis 34:8 The Hebrew for your is plural here
- Genesis 34:12 Or engagement present
Genesis 34
Het Boek
Sichem en Dina
34 Op een dag verliet Leaʼs dochter Dina het kamp om haar vriendinnen te bezoeken. 2 Toen zag Sichem, de zoon van de Chiwwitische koning Chamor, haar. Hij nam haar mee, had gemeenschap met haar en onteerde haar zo. 3 Hij werd hals-over-kop verliefd op Dina en probeerde haar voor zich te winnen. 4 Hij sprak er met zijn vader over. ‘Zorg dat ik dat meisje krijg,’ zei hij, ‘want ik wil met haar trouwen.’ 5 Jakob hoorde al snel wat er was gebeurd, maar zijn zonen waren met het vee op het land, dus wachtte hij tot zij terug waren.
6,7 Koning Chamor kwam naar het kamp om met Jakob te praten. Tegelijk met hem kwamen Jakobs zonen terug, geschokt en boos over de belediging die hun via hun zuster was aangedaan. 8 Chamor zei tegen Jakob: ‘Mijn zoon Sichem houdt echt van uw dochter en wil haar als zijn vrouw. Laat hem alstublieft met haar trouwen. 9,10 Wij willen graag dat u en uw mensen bij ons blijven wonen. Dan kunnen uw dochters met onze jonge mannen en onze dochters met uw jonge mannen trouwen. U kunt wonen waar u wilt en uw eigen leven leiden en rijk worden!’ 11 Toen richtte Sichem zich tot Dinaʼs vader en broers. ‘Wees zo vriendelijk mij Dina als vrouw te geven,’ smeekte hij. ‘Ik zal u alles geven wat u vraagt. 12 Ongeacht welke bruidsschat of welk geschenk u vraagt, ik zal het betalen. Geeft u mij alstublieft het meisje als vrouw.’
13 Toen logen haar broers tegen Sichem en Chamor, vanwege de schande die Sichem hun zuster had bezorgd. 14 ‘Dat kunnen wij niet doen,’ zeiden ze, ‘want u bent niet besneden. Het zou een schande voor haar zijn met zoʼn man te trouwen. 15 De enige mogelijkheid is dat alle mannen uit uw stad zich laten besnijden. 16 Dan kunnen wij onderling huwelijken sluiten en hier wonen. Zo kunnen wij één volk worden. 17 Als dat niet kan, vertrekken wij en nemen haar mee.’
18 Chamor en Sichem stemden blij toe 19 en maakten er snel werk van. Sichem was helemaal weg van Dina en dacht dat de mannen van de stad zich wel met het idee van een besnijdenis konden verzoenen, want hij was een geacht en populair man. 20 Zo legden Chamor en Sichem het plan voor aan de mannen van de stad. 21 ‘Die mannen zijn onze vrienden,’ zeiden zij. ‘Laten wij hun vragen hier bij ons te wonen en hun werk te doen. Het land is groot genoeg voor ons allen en wij kunnen dan onderling huwelijken sluiten. 22 Ze stellen echter één voorwaarde om hier te blijven: wij moeten ons allemaal laten besnijden, net zoals zij. 23 Als we dat doen, is al hun bezit ook het onze. Laten we akkoord gaan, zodat zij zich hier vestigen.’ 24 De mannen van de stad stemden in met het voorstel en iedereen werd besneden.
25 Maar drie dagen later, toen de wonden elke beweging tot een marteling maakten, namen twee broers van Dina, Simeon en Levi, hun zwaard, gingen de stad in en doodden, zonder op tegenstand te stuiten, alle mannen, ook Chamor en Sichem. 26 Zij bevrijdden Dina uit het huis van Sichem en keerden naar hun kamp terug. 27 Daarna gingen al Jakobs zonen de stad in en plunderden haar, omdat hun zuster daar was onteerd. 28 Alles namen zij mee: het kleinvee, het rundvee en de ezels, alles wat los en vast zat, werd meegenomen, zowel uit de stad als van de velden. 29 Ook de vrouwen en kinderen werden gevangengenomen. Alle kostbaarheden in de huizen werden buitgemaakt.
30 Maar Jakob zei tegen Simeon en Levi: ‘Jullie hebben mij in een kwaad daglicht gebracht tegenover de andere bewoners van dit land, de Kanaänieten en de Perizzieten. Wij zijn met zo weinig, dat ze hierheen zullen komen en ons zullen verslaan. Ze zullen ons allemaal doden.’ 31 Maar zij zeiden: ‘We konden toch niet toelaten dat hij onze zuster als een hoer behandelde?’
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