SH'CHEN AND DINAH Gen 34

 

SH’CHEM AND DINAH

Genesis 34

¹Dinah batLeah–whom she bore to Ya’aqov–went out to see the daughters of the land. ²Sh’chem benChamor–the Chivi, noble of the land–he saw her and he took her and he laid her and he diminished her. 

³His soul clung to Dinah batYa’aqov. He loved the girl. He spoke to her heart. ⁴Sh’chem said to Chamor, his father, “Take this child to be woman for me.”

⁵When Ya’aqov heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah, his sons were in the field with his flocks. He kept silent till their arrival.

⁶Chamor, father of Sh’chem, went out to Ya’aqov to speak with him. ⁷Ya’aqov’s sons, when they heard, came from the field. The men were pained and very angry, for he had done folly with Yisra’el, to lay the daughter of Ya’aqov. Such must not be done.

⁸Chamor spoke with them, “Sh’chem my son, his soul is passionate for your daughter. Give her to him to be woman. ⁹Intermarry with us. Give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰Settle with us and the land shall be before you. Settle or move about in it, possess it.”

¹¹Sh’chem said to her father and her brothers, “I’ll find favor in your eyes. Whatever you say to me, I’ll give. ¹²Raise high, very high a bride price. A gift. I’ll give whatever you say to me, but give me the girl as woman.”

¹³The b’neyYa’aqov responded to Sh’chem and Chamor his father, but they spoke with deceit for he had defiled  their sister Dinah. ¹⁴They said, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin. Because for us it is an object of scorn. ¹⁵Only with this shall we consent with you: if you become like us in circumcising yourselves, every male. ¹⁶Then we’ll give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle with you and become one people. ¹⁷And if you do not listen to us to circumcise, then we’ll take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸Their words were good in the eyes of Chamor and his son Sh’chem. ¹⁹The boy did not delay in doing the thing, for he desired Ya’aqov’s daughter, and he was the most honored of all his father’s house.

²⁰Then Chamor came, and his son Sh’chem to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city: ²¹“These men are peaceable with us. They’ll dwell in the land and move about. The land, behold, offers broad reach before them. We’ll take their daughters as women for ourselves and give them our daughters. ²²Only with this will the men consent to us, to dwell with us, to become one people: in our circumcising every male, as they are circumcised. ²³Then their acquired livestock, all their cattle, won’t all be ours? Only let us consent to them and they will dwell among us.”

²⁴All who go out the gate of his city listened to Chamor and his son Sh’chem and every male was circumcised, all who go out the gate. ²⁵Then, on the third day, when they were aching, two of Ya’aqov’s sons, Shim’on and Levi, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword. They came confidently upon the city and killed every male. ²⁶Chamor and his son Sh’chem, they killed by the mouth of the sword and they took Dinah from Sh’chem’s house and left.

²⁷When the b’neyYa’aov came upon the corpses they plundered the city that had defiled their sister. ²⁸Their flock, their herd, their asses, whatever was in the city or in the field, they took. ²⁹They returned and plundered all their wealth, all their children and women, all that was in the house.

³⁰Ya’aqov said to Shim’on and Levi, “You have made trouble for me in bringing me a stench before the K’na’ani and P’rizi residents of the land. I am few in men. They can gather against me and strike me. I could be destroyed, I and my house.”

³¹ They said, “Should they treat our sister like a whore?”