Genesis 34

Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, seized her, and raped her. His soul clung to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.” Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah. His sons were with his livestock in the field, and Jacob kept silent until they came. Hamor, Shechem’s father, went out to Jacob to speak with him. Jacob’s sons came from the field when they heard. The men were grieved and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that must not be done. Hamor spoke with them, saying, “My son Shechem’s soul longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. Intermarry with us. Give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. Live with us, and the land will be open to you. Settle and trade in it and acquire property in it.” Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give whatever you tell me. Ask me for as large a bride price and gift as you wish. I will give what you tell me. Only give me the young woman as a wife.” Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to an uncircumcised man, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you: that you become like us, with every male among you circumcised. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.” Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. The young man did not delay in doing this, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was the most honored in all his father’s household. Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, “These men are at peace with us. Let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land has room enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives and give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and become one people: that every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us.” All who went out through the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male was circumcised, all who went out through the gate of his city. On the third day, while they were in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the unsuspecting city and killed every male. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and plundered the city, because its people had defiled their sister. They took their flocks, their cattle, their donkeys, and what was in the city and what was in the field. They carried off all their wealth and took all their children and wives captive, plundering everything in the house. Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have few men. They will gather against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” They said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Rights and attribution