Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went
out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor
the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay
with her and humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah the
daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to
her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this
girl for my wife.”
Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his
sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace
until they came. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob
to speak with him. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as
soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very
angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying
with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.
But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem
longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.
Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our
daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land
shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in
it.” Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me
find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.
Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will
give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my
wife.”
The sons of Jacob 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 one who is
uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this
condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by
every male among you being circumcised. Then we will give our
daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and
we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not
listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter,
and we will be gone.”
Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. And the young
man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's
daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. So
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 dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is
large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and
let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men
agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among
us is circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their
livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us
agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” And all who went out
of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and
every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his
city.
On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob,
Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came
against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males.
They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah
out of Shechem's house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon
the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their
sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and
whatever was in the city and in the field. All their wealth, all
their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they
captured and plundered.
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on
me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the
Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they
gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed,
both I and my household.” But they said, “Should he treat our
sister like a prostitute?”
