Genesis 34

₁Dinah was the daughter of Jacob and Leah. She went to visit the other girls who lived near them. ₂Shechem was the son of Hamor, the Hivite, who ruled over that part of the land. When Shechem saw Dinah, he grabbed her and raped her.

₃Shechem started to love Dinah, Jacob's daughter, and he told her this. ₄Shechem said to his father, Hamor: ‘Tell this girl's parents that I want to marry her. I want her to be my wife.’

₅They told Jacob that Shechem had raped his daughter Dinah. His sons were in the field with the animals and Jacob did not say anything until they came back home.

₆Shechem's father, Hamor, came to Jacob to talk to him. ₇When Jacob's sons came from the field, he told them what had happened. They were shocked and very angry because Shechem had done a very bad thing when he had sex with Jacob's daughter. In Israel it was very bad to do something like that.

₈Hamor told them: ‘My son Shechem is in love with your daughter. Please give her to my son so that he can marry her. ₉If you give your daughters to us, then we will give our daughters to you so that you can marry them. ₁₀You must always live here with us. The land is big and open to you. You can move anywhere in the land and you can live where you want to.’

₁₁Shechem told Dinah's father, Jacob, and her brothers: ‘I want to become one of your family. I will give you anything that you ask me. ₁₂You can say how much I have to pay for her. It does not_matter if it is a lot of money. Also tell me what other gifts I must give you. But please give Dinah to me so that I can marry her.’

₁₃Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor, but they lied to them. They wanted to punish them and do something bad to them because Shechem had raped their sister, Dinah. ₁₄They said: ‘We can not give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised. It will be a shame to us. ₁₅We will say yes and give her to you only if you are like us. You must circumcise all your men and boys. ₁₆Then we will give our daughters to your sons and we will take your daughters for our sons so that they can marry them. We will live here with you and we will become one nation with you. ₁₇But if you do not listen to us, if you are not circumcised, then we will take our sister and go away.’

₁₈Hamor and Shechem, his son, were pleased with the answer that Jacob's sons gave. ₁₉Shechem was in a hurry to do what they asked because he loved Jacob's daughter very much. He was the most important man in his father's family.

₂₀Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of the town. They talked to all the men in the town and they said: ₂₁‘These people are friendly to us. Let them live in the land in peace with us, and then they can sell things to us and buy things from us. The land is very big. It is open to them. Our sons can marry their daughters and we can give our daughters to their sons. ₂₂But we must first circumcise all our men as they do, and then these men will agree and say yes and live here with us to become one nation with our people. ₂₃Then their animals, everything they have and all their cattle will belong to us, but we must first agree and do what they ask. Then they will live here with us.’

₂₄All the men of the town listened to Hamor and his son Shechem and they were all circumcised, every man and boy in the town. ₂₅After 3 days, when the men who were circumcised were still in a lot of pain, Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and they went to the town of Shechem. It was easy for them to go into the town because no one stopped them. They killed all the men. ₂₆They also stabbed and killed Hamor and his son Shechem. They took Dinah out of Shechem's house and they went away. ₂₇Jacob's sons went past the dead men and they took all the things from the people in the town, because Shechem had raped their sister. ₂₈They took the sheep, the goats, the cattle and donkeys, and everything in the town and in the field. ₂₉Simeon and Levi took everything that was in the houses, and all the children and women. They took everything with them.

₃₀Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: ‘Now you have made very big problems for me. I am ashamed before the people of this land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. There are not a lot of us and if the people of this land come together, they will defeat us and kill me and my family.’

₃₁But Simeon and Levi answered: ‘He should not have done things to our sister that someone does to a prostitute.’