34
About Shechem running off with Dinah
1 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the Canaanite women.
2 A man called Shechem saw her. His father was Hamor the Hivite and he was the ruler there. His son Shechem saw Dinah and grabbed her and took her to the bush and raped her.
3 He thought she was very beautiful and fell in love with her and spoke kindly to her.
4 He said to his father, “Get this girl for me for my wife.”
5 Then Jacob heard what Shechem had done to his daughter, but his sons were not with him. They were out with his cattle. So Jacob waited for them to come back and didn't say anything.
6-7 When Jacob's sons came home, Shechem and his father Hamor came to talk to Jacob. When Jacob's sons heard about it they were very angry. They said, “That is a terrible thing he has done. He has shamed all of us Israelites by raping her.”
8 Shechem's father Hamor said to Jacob, “My son loves your daughter, so please give her to him.
9 Let us make an agreement today. You can all give us your daughters and we will give you our daughters.
10 Then you can stay here in our country with us. You can live anywhere you want to. You can find any kind of work you like so that you can get food, and you can buy land.”
11-12 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, “Please have pity on me. Tell me and I will give you anything you want. If you will agree and let us get married, then I will give you money and presents.”
13 But Jacob's sons tricked Shechem and his father because of what Shechem had done.
14 They said, “We can't give our sister to you if you aren't circumcised. We would be ashamed.
15 If you circumcise yourselves and all your men and become like us, then we can give you our sister.
16 We will give our daughters to you and you can give your daughters to us. We will stay here and join you as one people.
17 But if you don't agree to be circumcised we will take our sister and leave.”
18 That seemed good to Shechem and his father.
19 So Shechem didn't wait and he did what was suggested because he loved Dinah. He was the most important member of his family.
20 Then Hamor and Shechem went to the meeting place at the city gate and told the people.
21 “These men are friendly,” they said. “Let them live in our country with us and let them travel freely. This land is big enough for them too. Let us marry their daughters and give them ours for their wives.
22 But these people want us men to circumcise ourselves as they do. If we don't, they won't agree to live among us and be one people with us.
23 If they live here with us, then all their sheep and other animals and everything they have brought here will be ours. So let us tell them that they can live among us.”
24 All the people said, “That would be good,” and all the men circumcised each other.
25-26 Three days later while the men were still hurting, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, older brothers of Dinah, took their swords and crept up and went quietly into the city. Then they killed Hamor and his son Shechem and all the men. Then they took Dinah from Shechem's house and ran away.
27 After they had killed all the men, Jacob's other sons came and took everything away. In that way they paid them back because they had shamed their sister.
28 They took the sheep and goats, cattle and donkeys and everything, all that was inside the city and out in the bush.
29 They took everything valuable. And they took all the women and children and everything that was in the houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me. Now the Canaanite people will hate me. The Perizzites and everybody in this country will hate me. I have only a few men. If they all get together to fight against me, they will destroy us.”
31 But they answered, “We don't want our sister to be shamed and that is why we did it.”