Genesis 34
The Message
34 1-4 One day Dinah, the daughter Leah had given Jacob, went to visit some of the women in that country. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her. Shechem went to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5-7 Jacob heard that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah, but his sons were out in the fields with the livestock so he didn’t say anything until they got home. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went to Jacob to work out marriage arrangements. Meanwhile Jacob’s sons on their way back from the fields heard what had happened. They were outraged, explosive with anger. Shechem’s rape of Jacob’s daughter was intolerable in Israel and not to be put up with.
8-10 Hamor spoke with Jacob and his sons, “My son Shechem is head over heels in love with your daughter—give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and we’ll give our daughters to you. Live together with us as one family. Settle down among us and make yourselves at home. Prosper among us.”
11-12 Shechem then spoke for himself, addressing Dinah’s father and brothers: “Please, say yes. I’ll pay anything. Set the bridal price as high as you will—the sky’s the limit! Only give me this girl for my wife.”
13-17 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”
18 That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 The young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that he proceeded to do what had been asked. He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.
20-23 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public square and spoke to the town council: “These men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country for them. And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves are. This is a very good deal for us—these people are very wealthy with great herds of livestock and we’re going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask and have them settle down with us.”
24 Everyone who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised.
25-29 Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. When the rest of Jacob’s sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah’s rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.
30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You’ve made my name repulsive to the people here, these Canaanites and Perizzites. If they decided to gang up on us and attack, as few as we are we wouldn’t stand a chance; they’d wipe me and my people right off the map.”
31 They said, “Nobody is going to treat our sister like a whore and get by with it.”
* * *
Olubereberye 34
Endagaano Enkadde nʼEndagaano Empya
Sekemu Asobya ku Dina
34 (A)Awo Dina muwala wa Leeya gwe yazaalira Yakobo, n’agenda okukyalira abakazi ab’omu nsi eyo. 2 Sekemu mutabani wa Kamoli Omukiiti omufuzi w’ensi eyo n’amulaba n’amukwata n’amusobyako. 3 Omwoyo gwa Sekemu ne gutwalibwa Dina muwala wa Yakobo, n’amwagala n’ayogera naye ebigambo ebiweweevu. 4 Sekemu n’alyoka agamba kitaawe Kamoli nti, “Mpasiza omuwala ono abeere mukazi wange.”
5 Yakobo bwe yawulira nga Sekemu asobezza ku muwala we Dina, n’aba mukkakkamu okutuusa batabani be abaali balabirira ebisibo ku ttale lwe badda. 6 (B)Kamoli kitaawe wa Sekemu n’agenda eri Yakobo okwogera naye. 7 (C)Batabani ba Yakobo ne bakomawo eka nga bamaze okukitegeera. Ne banakuwala era ne basunguwalira nnyo Sekemu olw’okukola eky’ekivve era ekitasaana mu Isirayiri.
8 Kyokka ye Kamoli n’ayogera nabo ng’agamba nti, “Omwoyo gwa mutabani wange gwegomba nnyo muwala wo, nkwegayirira mumuwe amuwase. 9 Kkiriza tufumbiriganwenga, otuwe bawala bo, nammwe muwasenga bawala baffe. 10 (D)Munaabeeranga mu ffe, era mukolenga buli kye mwagala mu nsi yaffe. Mubeeremu era musuubuliremu, mugaggawale nnyo.”
11 Sekemu naye n’ayogera ne Yakobo ne bannyina ba Dina, nti, “Nsaba ndabe ekisa mu maaso gammwe, era kyonna kye munansalira nzija kukibawa. 12 (E)Munsabe ebyobuko ebirabo n’ebigenderako, byonna nzija kubibawa nga bwe binaaba binsabiddwa; kye muba munkolera kwe kumpa omuwala abeere mukazi wange.”
13 Batabani ba Yakobo ne baddamu Sekemu ne kitaawe Kamoli nga babakwenyakwenya kuba Sekemu yali asobezza ku mwannyinaabwe Dina. 14 (F)Ne babagamba nti, “Ekyo tetusobola kukikola okuwa mwannyinaffe omuntu atali mukomole, kubanga kya muzizo gye tuli. 15 (G)Kye muteekwa okukola, tulyoke tukkirize, kwe kufuuka nga ffe nga buli musajja mu mmwe akomolebbwa. 16 Tulyoke tubawe bawala baffe, era naffe tuwase bawala bammwe, tubeere mu mmwe tufuuke eggwanga limu. 17 Naye bwe mutakkiriza kukomolebwa, kale tunaatwala muwala waffe ne tugenda.”
Okwesasuza Olwa Dina
18 Ebigambo byabwe ne bisanyusa Kamoli ne mutabani we Sekemu. 19 (H)Era omuvubuka teyalwa kukomolebwa, kubanga yayagala nnyo muwala wa Yakobo. Omuvubuka oyo ye yali asinga okussibwamu ekitiibwa mu baana ba Kamoli bonna. 20 (I)Awo Kamoli ne mutabani we Sekemu ne batuuka ku wankaaki[a] w’ekibuga kyabwe ne boogera n’abantu b’ekibuga kyabwe nga bagamba nti, 21 Abasajja abo mikwano gyaffe. Ka babeere mu nsi yaffe bakoleremu, kubanga, mulabe, ensi nnene ebamala. Ffe ka tuwase bawala baabwe era naffe tubawe bawala baffe. 22 Wabula buli musajja mu ffe ateekwa okukomolebwa, nga bo bwe bakola; tufuuke eggwanga limu, lwe banakkiriza okubeera mu ffe. 23 Olwo ente zaabwe, ebintu byabwe n’ensolo zaabwe zonna tebiibe byaffe? Kye tuba tukola kwe kukkiriziganya nabo, balyoke babeere mu ffe.
24 (J)Abasajja bonna abaali ku mulyango ebweru w’ekibuga ne bakkiriziganya ne Kamoli ne mutabani we Sekemu; buli musajja eyafuluma ebweru w’omulyango gw’ekibuga n’akomolebwa.
25 (K)Bwe waayitawo ennaku ssatu, nga bakyali mu bulumi, batabani ba Yakobo: Simyoni ne Leevi bannyina Dina ne baddira ebitala byabwe ne balumba ekibuga, abaamu nga tebategedde, ne batta buli musajja. 26 Battiramu Kamoli ne mutabani we Sekemu ne baggya Dina mu nnyumba ya Sekemu ne beetambulira. 27 Awo batabani ba Yakobo ne bagwa ku munyago ne banyaga ekibuga olwa mwannyinaabwe. 28 Ne batwala ebisibo by’endiga, amagana g’ente, n’endogoyi, na buli ekyali mu kibuga ne ku ttale. 29 N’obugagga bwonna, n’abaana bonna awamu n’abakazi, na buli ekyali mu mayumba, byonna ne babiwamba ne babinyaga.
30 (L)Awo Yakobo n’agamba Simyoni ne Leevi nti, “Mundeetedde akacwano, nfuuse wa kukyayibwa abantu bonna ab’omu nsi, Abakanani n’Abaperezi. Ffe tuli batono, kale bwe baneekuŋŋaanya ne bannumba nzija kumalibwawo, nze n’ennyumba yange yonna.”
31 Bo ne bamuddamu nti, “Lwaki yayisa mwannyinaffe ng’omwenzi?”
Footnotes
- 34:20 wankaaki Abakadde b’ekibuga baasisinkananga ku wankaaki w’ekibuga okubaako ensonga ze bateesaako.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Bayibuli Entukuvu, Endagaano Enkadde nʼEndagaano Empya Copyright © 1984, 1986, 1993, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.® Tuweereddwa olukusa okuva mu Biblica, Inc.® Olukusa lwonna mu nsi yonna lusigalidde mu Biblica, Inc. Luganda Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1984, 1986, 1993, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.