Genesis 34

1 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly. 4 So Shechem told his father Hamor, “ Get me this girl as a wife.” 5 Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned. 6 Meanwhile, Shechem ’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob. 7 When Jacob ’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob ’s daughter — a thing that should not be done. 8 But Hamor said to them, “ My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9 Intermarry with us; give us your daughters, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.” 11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “ Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask. 12 Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!” The Revenge of Dinah’s Brothers 13 But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob ’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully. 14 “ We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “ To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us. 15 We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us — every one of your males. 16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people. 17 But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.” 18 Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19 The young man, who was the most respected of all his father’s household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacob ’s daughter. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city: 21 “ These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them. 22 But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are. 23 Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.” 24 All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised. 25 Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob ’s sons ( Dinah ’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem ’s house, and went away. 27 Jacob ’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. 28 They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field. 29 They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “ You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.” 31 But they replied, “ Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

✦ What the text says

## Summary Genesis 34 narrates the rape of Dinah by Shechem, the negotiations between Jacob's family and Shechem's clan for intermarriage conditioned on circumcision, and the violent retaliation by Simeon and Levi who kill the men of the city and plunder it, ending with Jacob's rebuke and his sons' defiant justification. ## Key words - *va-y'anneha* ("and he humiliated her", H6031B) — piel stem of the verb intensifies the action beyond simple contact, marking it as forceful degradation rather than neutral intercourse. - *tidbaq nafsho* ("his soul cleaved", H1692 + H5315G) — the verb *dabaq* with *nefesh* ("self/soul") as subject describes an emotional attachment following the assault, distinct from the violent verbs of v.2. - *b'mirmah* ("with deceit", H4820) — this noun explicitly labels the brothers' response as deceptive, framing their entire circumcision proposal as a stratagem. - *nu-khal* ("we are able" / "we cannot", H3201) — the sons' negative statement (*lo nukhal*) introduces their refusal-with-condition, structuring the chapter's central negotiation. - *va-yahargu kol zakhar* ("and they killed every male", H2026 + H2145) — the qal narrative verb plus totalizing phrase *kol zakhar* marks the scope of Simeon and Levi's action as indiscriminate among the males of the city. ## What the text says The chapter's Hebrew syntax is built almost entirely on chains of *vav*-consecutive narrative verbs (the *va-yiqtol* pattern), which push the story forward action by action: *va-tetze* ("she went out", v.1), *va-yar* ("he saw"), *va-yiqqach* ("he took"), *va-yishkav* ("he lay with"), *va-y'anneha* ("he humiliated her", v.2). This rapid sequence of four narrative verbs with Shechem as subject compresses the assault into a single terse unit, without the elaborations found in the Vulgate's expansion ("vi opprimens virginem" — "overpowering the virgin by force"), which is not present as a separate clause in the Hebrew. A grammatical shift occurs in v.3, where the narrative pace slows: *tidbaq* ("it cleaved") uses *nefesh* ("soul/self", H5315G) as grammatical subject, and the phrase *va-y'dabber al lev ha-na'arah* ("he spoke to the heart of the girl") uses an idiom built on *lev* ("heart", H3820A) construct forms, indicating a change in tone after the initial violence. Throughout the negotiation (vv.8-17), the text alternates between qal imperfects expressing future intent ("we will give," *nitten*; "we will take," *niqqach*) and imperatives (*tenu*, "give"), reflecting the back-and-forth of treaty language. The narrator explicitly flags the brothers' words as *b'mirmah* ("with deceit," H4820) in v.13, a narratorial judgment embedded directly in the grammar of the sentence before their speech is even reported. ## Differences between versions In v.2, the LXX renders *ha-Chivi* ("the Hivite", H2340) as *ho Chorraios* ("the Horite"), a divergence in the gentilic name from the Hebrew text. In v.7, the LXX adds the phrase "because Shechem had done it" with more specificity than the Hebrew's general *nevalah* ("a disgraceful folly", H5039). The Vulgate at v.2 adds an interpretive phrase, "vi opprimens virginem" ("overpowering the virgin by force"), not present as distinct wording in the Hebrew verbs themselves. In v.14, the LXX explicitly names "Levi" among the speakers ("they said, and Levi..."), a detail not present in the Hebrew, which simply reads *va-yomru* ("and they said") with unspecified plural subject *b'nei Ya'aqov*.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.