The Rape of Dinah

34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the region.^{(A) 2} When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl to be my wife.”^(B)

⁵ Now Jacob heard that Shechem^[a] had defiled his daughter Dinah, but his sons were with his cattle 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 just as the sons of Jacob came in from the field. When they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.^(C)

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The heart of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. ⁹ Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You shall live with us, and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it and get property in it.”^{(D) 11} Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor with you, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me the young woman to be my wife.”^(E)

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 that would be a disgrace to us.^{(F) 15} Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and 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 was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his family.^{(G) 20} So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will they agree to live among us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their livestock, their property, and all their animals be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live among us.” ²⁴ And all who went out of the city gate heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.^(H)

Dinah’s Brothers Avenge Their Sister

²⁵ On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares and killed all the males.^{(I) 26} They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. ²⁷ And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled. 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 made their prey. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”^{(J) 31} But they said, “Should our sister be treated like a prostitute?”

Amnon and Tamar

13 Some time passed. David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and David’s son Amnon fell in love with her.^{(A) 2} Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. ³ But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, and Jonadab was a very crafty man.^{(B) 4} He said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.” ⁵ Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill, and when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat and prepare the food in my sight, so that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’ ” ⁶ So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill, and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.”^(C)

⁷ Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare food for him.” ⁸ So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, where he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. ⁹ Then she took the pan and set them before him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Send out everyone from me.” So everyone went out from him.^{(D) 10} Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the chamber so that I may eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. ¹¹ But when she brought them near him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”^{(E) 12} She answered him, “No, my brother, do not force me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do anything so vile!^{(F) 13} As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the scoundrels in Israel. Now therefore, I beg you, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”^{(G) 14} But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her.^(H)

¹⁵ Then Amnon was seized with a very great loathing for her; indeed, his loathing was even greater than the lust he had felt for her. Amnon said to her, “Get out!” ¹⁶ But she said to him, “No, my brother,^[a] for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me.” But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷ He called the young man who served him and said, “Put this woman out of my presence and bolt the door after her.” ¹⁸ (Now she was wearing an ornamented^[b] robe with sleeves, for this is how the virgin daughters of the king were clothed in earlier times.^[c]) So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her.^{(I) 19} But Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe that she was wearing; she put her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.^(J)

²⁰ Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother; do not take this to heart.” So Tamar remained, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom’s house.^{(K) 21} When King David heard of all these things, he became very angry, but he would not punish his son Amnon because he loved him, for he was his firstborn.^{[d] 22} But Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had raped his sister Tamar.^(L)