Genesis 34

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Went out' (vattetse) — the verb yatsa ('to go out') introduces Dinah's independent action. She 'goes out' on her own initiative, an unusual act for a young woman in this narrative world. The verb itself carries no moral judgment — it simply describes movement from the family compound into the broader community. Later interpreters, however, debated whether this 'going out' implied impropriety. The text itself assigns no blame to Dinah.
2. 'The daughter of Leah whom she had borne to Jacob' — the double identification through both parents is unusual and may serve to emphasize Dinah's lineage. She is Leah's daughter specifically — this will matter when her full brothers (Simeon and Levi, also Leah's sons) take vengeance in vv. 25-26.
3. 'To see the daughters of the land' (lir'ot bivnot ha'arets) — Dinah's purpose is social: she seeks the company of local women. The phrase 'daughters of the land' echoes the patriarchal concern about intermarriage with Canaanite women (24:3; 27:46; 28:1). Dinah's visit is innocent, but it moves her into a space of cultural contact that the patriarchal narratives have repeatedly flagged as dangerous.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verse uses four rapid verbs in sequence: 'saw' (vayyar), 'took' (vayyiqqach), 'lay with' (vayyishkav), 'violated' (vay'anneha). The staccato pace conveys the violence — there is no courtship, no negotiation, no consent. Shechem sees and acts. The chain of verbs mirrors the language used for the 'sons of God' in 6:2: 'they saw... they took' — a pattern of powerful males seizing women.
2. 'Violated her' (vay'anneha) — the verb 'innah (piel of 'anah) means 'to humiliate, oppress, afflict, violate.' It is used for rape in Deuteronomy 22:24, 29 and for the violation of Tamar by Amnon (2 Samuel 13:12, 14). The word carries connotations of degradation beyond the physical act — it denotes the imposition of shame and the destruction of social standing. The KJV's 'defiled' softens the Hebrew; 'violated' captures the force of the verb.
3. 'Prince of the land' (nesi ha'arets) — Shechem is not a commoner but the ruling prince. His status makes the act a political as well as personal violation. The most powerful man in the region has assaulted the daughter of the most prominent immigrant family.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'His soul clung' (vattidbbaq nafsho) — the verb davaq ('to cling, cleave, attach') is the same verb used for the marriage bond in 2:24: 'a man shall cleave to his wife.' The word describes intense emotional attachment. Its use here creates a disturbing juxtaposition: the language of marital devotion follows immediately after the language of sexual violence. Shechem's desire is genuine but does not undo or excuse the violation.
2. 'He loved the young woman' (vayyehav et-hanna'arah) — the verb ahav ('to love') appears without irony. The narrative does not question the sincerity of Shechem's love; it does, however, present love as arriving after violence — an impossible sequence for genuine consent. Love that begins with 'he took her and violated her' is love built on a destroyed foundation.
3. 'Spoke to the heart of the young woman' (vaydabber al-lev hanna'arah) — the idiom dibber al-lev means 'to speak tenderly, to comfort, to reassure.' It is used when Boaz comforts Ruth (Ruth 2:13) and when God woos Israel back from apostasy (Hosea 2:14). Shechem attempts to console the woman he has just violated. The tender words cannot erase the brutal verbs of v. 2.

Translator Notes

1. 'Get me this girl as a wife' (qach-li et-hayyaldah hazzot le'ishah) — the verb laqach ('to take, get') echoes v. 2 where Shechem 'took' Dinah. The same verb frames both the assault and the marriage request. Shechem's demand to his father is imperious — 'Get me' — the tone of a prince accustomed to having what he wants. He calls Dinah 'this girl' (hayyaldah), using a term that emphasizes her youth.
2. The request to formalize the relationship through marriage follows the ancient Near Eastern pattern where a rapist could marry his victim (cf. Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Shechem seeks legitimacy for a fait accompli. The narrative presents his desire for marriage without endorsing it as an adequate response to the violation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He had defiled' (timme) — the verb tame ('to make unclean, defile') shifts the vocabulary from violence ('innah in v. 2) to ritual impurity. Dinah has been rendered ritually unclean, a status that affects her social and religious standing within the community. The defilement language adds a communal dimension to the personal violation.
2. 'Jacob held his peace' (vehecherish Ya'aqov) — the verb charash (hiphil: 'to be silent, hold one's peace') describes Jacob's inaction. He hears the news and does nothing — waits for his sons. Jacob's silence has been variously interpreted: as restraint, as paralysis, as passive complicity, as political calculation. The father who fought with God and faced Esau now falls silent when his daughter is violated. His passivity is one of the most troubling aspects of the chapter.

Translator Notes

1. 'Hamor went out to Jacob' — Hamor initiates the diplomatic contact. The father of the perpetrator approaches the father of the victim. The verb 'went out' (vayyetse) echoes Dinah's 'going out' in v. 1, creating an ironic parallel: Dinah went out innocently and was violated; Hamor goes out diplomatically to legitimize the violation. The word ledabber ('to speak') is bland and transactional — as if what happened were a matter for negotiation rather than justice.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The men were grieved and they burned with anger' (vayyit'atsvu ha'anashim vayyichar lahem me'od) — two responses: grief (atsav, the same verb used for God's grief over human wickedness in 6:6) and burning anger (charah, 'to be hot, kindled'). The brothers' response contrasts sharply with Jacob's silence in v. 5. Where the father went mute, the brothers are inflamed.
2. 'He had committed an outrage in Israel' (nevalah asah veYisra'el) — this is the first occurrence of the formula nevalah beYisra'el, which becomes a standard expression for grievous sexual violations throughout the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 22:21; Judges 19:23; 20:6, 10; 2 Samuel 13:12). The word nevalah denotes an act of gross moral violation — 'disgrace, outrage, folly' — something that ruptures the social order. Its use here is anachronistic in one sense: 'Israel' as a national entity does not yet exist. But the narrator employs the later formula to signal the severity of the act — this is a crime against the emerging community.
3. 'A thing that ought not to be done' (vekhen lo ye'aseh) — a declaration of absolute moral prohibition. The passive construction (lo ye'aseh, 'it shall not be done') frames the prohibition as objective and universal, not merely personal. This is not about Jacob's honor but about the moral order itself.

Translator Notes

1. 'His soul longs' (chashqah nafsho) — the verb chashaq means 'to desire, long for, be attached to.' It is used positively elsewhere: God 'set his love' (chashaq) on Israel (Deuteronomy 7:7; 10:15). Hamor presents his son's desire as deep emotional attachment, omitting entirely the fact that Shechem has already raped the girl. The diplomatic language sanitizes the violence: 'longing' replaces assault, 'desire' replaces coercion. Hamor negotiates as though beginning a courtship that has, in fact, already ended in violation.

Translator Notes

1. 'Intermarry with us' (vehitchatnu otanu) — the hitpael of chatan ('to become a son-in-law, to intermarry') proposes a comprehensive kinship alliance, not merely a single marriage. Hamor expands Shechem's individual request into a communal proposal: full intermarriage between the two peoples. The suggestion is precisely what the patriarchal narratives have consistently forbidden (cf. 24:3; 28:1). Hamor is proposing the dissolution of Jacob's family's distinctiveness — the very thing the covenant requires them to maintain.

Translator Notes

1. 'The land will be open before you' (veha'arets tihyeh lifneikhem) — Hamor offers unrestricted access to the land: settlement, commerce, and property ownership. The offer is generous by any standard. But for the reader who knows the covenant promises, Hamor's offer is a theological trap — Israel is to inherit the land through divine promise, not through assimilation with its current inhabitants. The land is already promised to Jacob's descendants; to receive it as a gift from Hamor would redefine the terms of possession.
2. 'Acquire property' (hei'achezu vah) — the verb achaz means 'to seize, hold, possess.' The noun achuzzah ('possession, holding') is the standard term for land inheritance in Israel (cf. 47:11; Leviticus 25:10). Hamor unwittingly uses covenantal vocabulary to describe a commercial transaction.

Translator Notes

1. 'Let me find favor in your eyes' (emtsa-chen be'eineikhem) — Shechem now addresses the family directly, using the same supplicatory language Jacob used with Esau (33:8, 10, 15). The rapist positions himself as a suitor seeking approval. The word chen ('favor, grace') is deeply ironic coming from the man who has already taken by force what he now seeks permission to have.
2. 'Whatever you say to me I will give' (va'asher tomru elai etten) — a blank check. Shechem offers unlimited compensation. This open-ended promise sets the stage for the brothers' deceptive demand in vv. 14-17. Shechem's desperation gives them leverage.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Bride-price and gift' (mohar umattan) — the mohar is the formal bride-price paid by the groom's family to the bride's family (cf. Exodus 22:16-17; 1 Samuel 18:25). The mattan is an additional gift or present. Together they constitute the full financial transaction of marriage. Shechem offers to pay any amount — the price is irrelevant; he wants legitimacy.
2. The entire negotiation scene is remarkable for what it omits: Dinah's voice. She is spoken about, bargained over, and traded — but she never speaks. The patriarchal world of the text treats her as the object of male transactions, whether violent (Shechem's assault) or commercial (the marriage negotiations). Her silence is the loudest element of the chapter.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'With deceit' (bemirmah) — the narrator reveals the deception before it unfolds, ensuring the reader knows the brothers' true intentions. The word mirmah ('deceit, treachery, guile') is the same word used to describe Jacob's deception of Isaac: 'Your brother came with mirmah and took your blessing' (27:35). The father's defining sin reappears in the sons. Deceit runs in the family — though here it is deployed in response to genuine outrage rather than for personal gain.
2. 'Because he had defiled Dinah their sister' (asher timme et Dinah achotam) — the narrator provides the brothers' motive before their words. The clause functions as moral context: their deception, while wrong, is provoked by an atrocity. The text refuses to simplify: the brothers are both avengers of their sister and perpetrators of treachery.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'A man who has a foreskin' (ish asher-lo orlah) — literally 'a man who has foreskin.' The brothers frame circumcision as a non-negotiable boundary marker. The demand weaponizes the covenant sign: circumcision, given as a mark of God's covenant with Abraham (ch. 17), is now deployed as a strategic trap. The brothers exploit sacred identity for military advantage.
2. 'A disgrace to us' (cherpah hi lanu) — the word cherpah means 'reproach, shame, disgrace.' The brothers claim that intermarriage with the uncircumcised would bring shame — a claim rooted in genuine covenantal conviction but made here in bad faith. The irony is devastating: they invoke covenant holiness to plan mass murder.

Translator Notes

1. 'If you become like us' (im tihyu khamonu) — the condition demands cultural assimilation in the direction the brothers have no intention of reciprocating. The phrase 'like us' is deeply ironic: Hamor proposed that Jacob's family become like them (v. 10); the brothers reverse the demand. The condition sounds like an invitation to covenant membership but is actually a setup for slaughter.
2. 'Circumcising every male' (lehimmol lakhem kol-zakhar) — the demand for universal male circumcision echoes God's command to Abraham (17:10-14). The brothers require of the Shechemites exactly what God required of Abraham's household. The covenant sign is being used as a weapon — the most cynical appropriation of sacred practice in Genesis.

Translator Notes

1. 'We will become one people' (vehayinu le'am echad) — the brothers dangle the prospect of full national merger. The word 'am ('people, nation') implies more than cohabitation — it envisions a fused identity. This is precisely the assimilation that later biblical law prohibits (Deuteronomy 7:1-4). The promise is hollow: the brothers have no intention of merging. They are constructing a lie of extraordinary scope — promising national unity while planning massacre.

Translator Notes

1. 'We will take our daughter and go' (velaqachnu et-bittenu vehalakhnu) — the brothers present an ultimatum: circumcision or departure. The possessive 'our daughter' (bittenu) is significant — they do not say 'our sister' (achotenu) but 'our daughter,' perhaps speaking collectively as the family. The threat to leave establishes the condition's urgency: accept circumcision now or lose the alliance permanently. The entire speech (vv. 14-17) is a masterpiece of diplomatic duplicity — every word true in form, false in intent.

Translator Notes

1. 'Their words pleased' (vayyitvu divreihem be'einei) — literally 'their words were good in the eyes of.' Hamor and Shechem accept the condition without suspicion. The irony is thick: the father and son whose 'taking' precipitated the crisis are now themselves 'taken in' by deceptive words. The deceived become the deceived. They hear the promise of intermarriage and alliance; they do not hear the death sentence hidden within it.

Translator Notes

1. 'Did not delay' (velo echar hanna'ar) — Shechem acts immediately, driven by desire. The verb achar ('to delay, tarry') in the negative emphasizes his eagerness. The same urgency that characterized the assault (v. 2) now characterizes the compliance.
2. 'The most honored in all his father's house' (vehu nikhbad mikkol beit aviv) — the narrator notes Shechem's high social standing. The adjective nikhbad ('honored, respected') from the root kavod ('glory, honor, weight') indicates that Shechem was the most prominent member of his clan. His status explains why he could persuade the city (v. 20) and why the city's men would follow his lead in circumcision. His honor, however, did not prevent his crime.

Translator Notes

1. 'The gate of their city' (sha'ar iram) — the city gate was the center of legal and commercial activity in ancient Near Eastern cities. Public business, legal disputes, and community decisions took place at the gate (cf. Ruth 4:1-11). Hamor and Shechem bring their proposal to the public assembly for communal ratification. The circumcision of all males requires collective consent, not merely a ruler's decree.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'These men are peaceable' (ha'anashim ha'elleh shelemim hem ittanu) — the adjective shelemim ('peaceable, complete, at peace') is from the same root as shalem in 33:18, where Jacob arrived 'safely' at Shechem. The word also connects to Shechem's city name and to the concept of shalom. The tragic irony is that these 'peaceable' men are planning mass murder. Hamor uses the language of peace to promote a covenant that will end in blood.
2. 'The land is broad enough' (veha'arets hinneh rachavat-yadayim lifneihem) — literally 'the land is wide of hands before them.' The idiom means there is ample room. Hamor's economic argument is pragmatic: there is no need for competition when resources are abundant. The appeal to self-interest will prove decisive in v. 23.

Translator Notes

1. Hamor relays the brothers' condition faithfully. The repetition of 'one people' (le'am echad) from v. 16 shows that Hamor has accepted the brothers' terms at face value. He presents circumcision as a reasonable concession for the enormous benefit of alliance. The demand for universal male circumcision — every zakhar ('male') — is what transforms a surgical procedure into a military vulnerability: an entire city of men incapacitated simultaneously.

Translator Notes

1. 'Will not their livestock and their property become ours?' (miqnehem veqinyanam vekhol-behemtam halo lanu hem) — Hamor and Shechem reveal their true pitch to the city: greed. The appeal to economic self-interest — 'everything they have will be ours' — is the decisive argument. The citizens of Shechem agree to circumcision not for love, not for alliance, but for profit. The irony is devastating: the Shechemites plan to absorb Jacob's wealth just as Jacob's sons plan to destroy Shechem's population. Both sides operate on acquisition; neither side is honest.
2. The rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer: 'Of course their wealth will be ours!' Hamor promises his citizens a windfall. The city's men undergo circumcision expecting enrichment; they receive annihilation.

Translator Notes

1. 'All who went out of the gate of his city' (kol-yots'ei sha'ar iro) — the phrase denotes the adult male citizens, those who participate in public life at the city gate. The repetition of the phrase emphasizes totality: every single adult male submitted to circumcision. The compliance is unanimous, motivated by the economic argument of v. 23. The universality of the circumcision creates the universality of the vulnerability.
2. The verb vayyimmolu ('they were circumcised') is passive/reflexive — they circumcised themselves, acting upon their own bodies at the instigation of outsiders who intend their destruction. The city enacts its own incapacitation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'On the third day, when they were in pain' (vayyehi bayyom hashlishi bihyotam ko'avim) — the timing is calculated. The third day after circumcision is when pain and inflammation peak. The men of Shechem are at maximum physical vulnerability — feverish, swollen, unable to fight or flee. The brothers have weaponized the healing calendar.
2. 'Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers' (Shim'on veLevi achei Dinah) — the text specifies that these are Dinah's full brothers, all children of Leah (29:33-34; 30:21). The designation 'Dinah's brothers' rather than 'Jacob's sons' frames their action as sibling loyalty, not mere tribal violence. They avenge their sister specifically.
3. 'Came against the unsuspecting city' (vayyavo'u al-ha'ir betach) — the word betach means 'securely, confidently, unsuspectingly.' It describes the city's state of false security — they believed the alliance was genuine. Two men attack an entire city: the detail strains historical credibility but makes narrative sense. The entire male population is incapacitated; two armed men against a city of invalids is a feasible, if horrifying, military equation.
4. 'Killed every male' (vayyahargu kol-zakhar) — the scope of the killing is total. Every male (zakhar) — the same word used for those circumcised in v. 24 — is put to the sword. The covenant sign that was meant to mark inclusion in Abraham's family instead marked the victims for death.

Translator Notes

1. 'They killed Hamor and Shechem' — the named killings come after the general massacre, specifying the primary targets. Father and son — the diplomat and the rapist — die together by the sword.
2. 'Took Dinah from Shechem's house' (vayyiqchu et-Dinah mibbeit Shekhem) — this detail reveals that Dinah has been in Shechem's house throughout the negotiations. She was not returned after the assault; she has been held. The verb laqach ('to take') echoes its earlier uses: Shechem 'took' Dinah by force (v. 2); now her brothers 'take' her back. The same verb describes both the crime and the rescue.
3. 'And went out' (vayyetse'u) — the verb yatsa ('to go out') closes the circle opened in v. 1, where Dinah 'went out.' Dinah went out; violence entered. Her brothers go out; they bring her home. The verb frames the entire narrative.

Translator Notes

1. 'The sons of Jacob' (benei Ya'aqov) — the subject broadens from Simeon and Levi (v. 25) to all of Jacob's sons. The killing was done by two; the plundering involves all. The distinction may indicate different levels of culpability, or it may reflect the practical reality that looting requires more hands than killing.
2. 'Plundered the city' (vayyavozu ha'ir) — the verb bazaz ('to plunder, spoil, loot') is standard military terminology for stripping a defeated city. The economic dimension transforms the act from vengeance into conquest. The brothers take not only their sister but everything of value.
3. 'Because they had defiled their sister' (asher timme'u achotam) — the plural 'they defiled' extends responsibility beyond Shechem to the entire city. The brothers' logic: the city that harbored and supported Shechem shares his guilt. This collective punishment will be debated by Jacob (v. 30) and by the brothers themselves (v. 31).

Translator Notes

1. The inventory of plunder is thorough: flocks, herds, donkeys, urban property, and rural property. Nothing is left. The catalogue mirrors Hamor's promise to the Shechemites in v. 23: 'Will not their livestock and property become ours?' The irony is complete — the Shechemites agreed to circumcision expecting to absorb Jacob's wealth; instead, Jacob's sons absorb theirs. The economic predation runs both directions, but only one side survives to collect.

Translator Notes

1. 'Their little ones and their wives they took captive' (et-kol-tappam ve'et-nesheihem shavu) — the verb shavah ('to take captive') indicates that women and children were seized as spoils of war. The men are dead; the women and children become captives. The brothers who avenged their sister's abduction now abduct an entire city's women and children. The moral symmetry is uncomfortable: the response to one woman's violation is the mass victimization of all women.
2. The scope of destruction escalates through these verses: v. 25 — killing of males; v. 26 — killing of leaders and rescue of Dinah; v. 27 — plundering the city; v. 28 — seizing livestock and goods; v. 29 — capturing women, children, and household possessions. The escalation transforms what began as a rescue operation into a total war of annihilation and appropriation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'You have brought trouble on me' (akhartem oti) — the verb akhar means 'to bring trouble, to disturb, to make turbid.' The same verb describes Achan's sin at Jericho: 'Why have you brought trouble on us?' (Joshua 7:25). Jacob frames the massacre not as a moral outrage but as a strategic liability. His rebuke is remarkably self-centered: the issue is not the slaughter of innocents but the danger to himself.
2. 'Making me odious' (lehav'isheni) — the hiphil of ba'ash means 'to make stink, to cause to be abhorred.' Jacob fears that his family's reputation has become toxic — they will be seen as dangerous and untrustworthy by surrounding peoples. The complaint is pragmatic, not ethical: Jacob does not say 'what you did was wrong' but 'what you did puts me at risk.'
3. 'I am few in number' (va'ani metei mispar) — literally 'men of number,' meaning a small, countable group. Jacob acknowledges his military weakness: his household cannot withstand a coalition of Canaanite peoples. The realism of his fear contrasts with the brothers' reckless boldness. Jacob's objection will be repeated, in stronger terms, on his deathbed (49:5-7), where he curses Simeon and Levi's anger and scatters their descendants.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?' (hakhezonah ya'aseh et-achotenu) — the chapter's final word belongs to the brothers, and it is a question with no recorded answer. The word zonah ('prostitute') reframes Shechem's offer to pay a bride-price (v. 12): paying for Dinah after raping her reduces marriage to prostitution. The brothers reject the commodification of their sister's body. Their moral logic is clear even if their methods are atrocious: no amount of money makes rape acceptable; marriage to the rapist is not justice but institutionalized degradation.
2. The question hangs unanswered in the text. Jacob does not respond. The narrator does not respond. God does not respond. The silence is the chapter's final, devastating statement. Genesis 34 refuses to resolve its own moral tensions: the rape is condemned, the vengeance is excessive, Jacob's passivity is damning, the brothers' question is valid. The reader is left to grapple with competing claims of justice, proportionality, family honor, and political survival.
3. The chapter's last word — achotenu ('our sister') — centers Dinah one final time. Whatever else this story is about — politics, deception, circumcision, massacre — it is about a sister. The brothers' fury, however misdirected and disproportionate, begins with a sibling's outrage at an unforgivable violation.