Dinah Defiled

1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom Leah bore to Jacob, went out to see the young women of the land. 2 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and raped her. 3 His heart clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady and spoke kindly to the young lady. 4 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”

5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter, and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him. 7 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done this disgraceful thing in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done.

8 Hamor talked with them, saying, “The heart of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 9 Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 Dwell among us, and the land will be available to you. Live and trade in it and acquire possessions in it.”

11 Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you tell me I will give.

12 Ask of me a great amount as a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”

Dinah’s Brothers Avenge Dinah

13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had raped Dinah their sister, 14 and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male among you be circumcised, 16 then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone.”

18 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 The young man did not wait to do this, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honored above the entire house of his father. 20 Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city and talked with the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are peaceful among us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For the land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters as wives, and let’s give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23 Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”

24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

25 On the third day, when 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 all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left.

27 Jacob’s other sons came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, 29 all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives and took as plunder everything that was in the house.

30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble to me, making me a stench among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number, and they will band together against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”

31 They said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?

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