Genesis 34 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Dinah, Jacob and Leah's daughter, went to visit some of the local women.
1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2 Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her. He grabbed hold of her and raped her.
2 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.
3 However, then he fell deeply in love with Dinah and tried to get her to love him too.
3 His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.
4 He went and asked his father, “Get this young girl for me so I can marry her.”
4 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”
5 Jacob found out that Shechem had violated his daughter Dinah, but as his sons were away looking after the flocks in the fields he didn't say anything until they came home.
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 In the meantime Hamor, Shechem's father, arrived to talk with Jacob.
6 Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.
7 When Jacob's sons returned from the fields they were very upset when they heard the news and became extremely angry because Shechem had done something outrageous in Israel by having sex with Jacob's daughter—something that should never be done.
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 folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done.
8 Hamor told them, “My son Shechem is very much in love with your daughter and your sister Dinah. Please allow him to marry her.
8 Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9 In fact we can have more marriages—you can give us your daughters and you can have our daughters.
9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10 You can live among us and settle down wherever you like. You can go where you want and buy land for yourselves.”
10 You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”
11 Then Shechem himself spoke up, and said to Dinah's father and brothers, “Please accept me and my proposal, and I'll do whatever you ask.
11 Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.
12 You can set the bride price as high as you like, and I'll pay it along with all the gifts I'll give. Just let me have the girl so I can marry her.”
12 Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”
13 Jacob's sons weren't honest when they answered him and his father Hamor because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah.
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
14 They told them, “We can't do this! We can't allow our sister to marry a man who's not circumcised. That would bring disgrace on us.
14 and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.
15 We will only agree to it with this condition: all of you must be circumcised like us.
15 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised,
16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters, and we will live among you and become one family.
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 don't agree with us that you should be circumcised, then we'll take our sister and leave.”
17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone.”
18 Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to what was proposed.
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.
19 The young man Shechem didn't waste any time in arranging this because he was infatuated with Jacob's daughter, and he was viewed as the most important person in his father's family.
19 The young man didn’t wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.
20 Hamor and Shechem went to the town gate and spoke to the other leaders there.
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 our friends,” they told them. “Let's have them live here in our country and allow them to go wherever they want—it's big enough for all of them too. We can take their daughters as wives, and we can give our daughters to them to marry.
21 “These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters to us for wives, and let’s give them our daughters.
22 But they will only agree to this on one condition: they will only join us and become one family if every male among us is circumcised like they are.
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 If that happens, won't all their livestock and property—all their animals—end up belonging to us? We just have to agree to this and they will come and live among us.”
23 Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”
24 Everyone there at the town gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem so every male in the town was circumcised.
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 Three days later while they were still suffering pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons and Dinah's brothers, came with their swords into the town. Unopposed, they slaughtered every male.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
26 They killed Hamor and Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.
26 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.
27 Jacob's other sons arrived, robbed the dead bodies, and looted the town where their sister had been violated.
27 Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28 They took their sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. They took whatever was in the town, and in the fields—
28 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,
29 all their possessions. They captured all their women and children, and plundered everything in their homes.
29 and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.
30 But Jacob criticized Simeon and Levi, telling them, “You've just caused me a lot of trouble! You've made me like a bad smell among the people in this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I only have a few men, and if these people gather to attack me, I and my whole family will be wiped out.”
30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”
31 But they replied, “Should we have let him treat our sister like a prostitute?”
31 They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Dinah
The one named daughter of Jacob, at the center of a grievous episode at Shechem.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 30:21; 34
Hamor
A Hivite, the prince of the region and father of Shechem, from whose sons Jacob bought the plot where he pitched his tent; he and Shechem agreed to circumcision in order to…
Cited in the guide: Genesis 33:19; Genesis 34:2; Genesis 34:6
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Levi
A son of Leah whose tribe was set apart for the service of God.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 29:34; 34; Exodus 6:16–20
Shechem
Hamor's son, who seized Dinah, then asked to marry her, agreed to be circumcised, and was killed with his father by Simeon and Levi.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 34:2; Genesis 34:4; Genesis 34:18–19
Simeon
A son of Leah whose fierce anger drew his father's rebuke.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 29:33; 34; 49:5–7
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 30:21; Jeremiah 2:36; Genesis 27:46; Genesis 46:15; Genesis 26:34
- 2 Matthew 5:28; Job 31:1; Judges 14:1; Proverbs 13:20; Job 31:9
- 3 Hosea 2:14; Isaiah 40:2; 2 Chronicles 30:22; Ruth 1:14; 2 Samuel 19:7
- 4 Judges 14:2; Genesis 21:21; 2 Samuel 13:13
- 5 2 Samuel 13:22; 1 Samuel 17:15; Genesis 37:13–14; Luke 15:29; Luke 15:25
- 7 Joshua 7:15; Judges 20:6; Deuteronomy 22:21; Genesis 20:9; Hebrews 13:4
- 8 Psalm 119:20; 1 Kings 11:2; Psalm 63:1; Genesis 34:3; Psalm 84:2
- 9 Deuteronomy 7:3; Genesis 24:3; Genesis 6:2; Genesis 26:34–35; Genesis 19:14
- 10 Genesis 47:27; Genesis 13:9; Genesis 42:34; Genesis 20:15; Genesis 34:21–23
- 11 Genesis 33:15; Genesis 18:3
- 12 Exodus 22:16–17; Genesis 24:53; Deuteronomy 22:28–29; 1 Samuel 18:25–27; Genesis 31:41
- 13 Genesis 25:27–34; Judges 15:3; Romans 12:19; Matthew 28:13; Proverbs 26:24–26
- 14 1 Samuel 17:36; 2 Samuel 1:20; Joshua 5:2–9; Matthew 2:8; 2 Samuel 15:7
- 15 Galatians 4:12
- 19 Numbers 22:15; Acts 13:50; Acts 17:12; Song of Songs 8:6; Isaiah 62:4
- 20 Ruth 4:1; Genesis 22:17; Amos 5:10; Proverbs 31:23; Deuteronomy 17:5
- 23 Proverbs 1:12–13; Acts 19:24–26; 1 Timothy 6:6–10; John 2:16; Proverbs 28:20
- 24 Genesis 23:10; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Isaiah 1:10–16; Genesis 23:18; Romans 2:28–29
- 25 Genesis 49:5–7; Genesis 29:33–34; 2 Chronicles 32:25; Numbers 31:17; Proverbs 6:34–35
- 26 Isaiah 31:8; Deuteronomy 32:42; 2 Samuel 2:26
- 27 Esther 9:16; Joshua 7:1; Genesis 34:2; Joshua 7:13; Genesis 34:31
- 28 Deuteronomy 8:17–18; Job 20:5; Job 1:15–16; Numbers 31:17
- 30 1 Samuel 13:4; Psalm 105:12; Exodus 5:21; Joshua 7:25; Genesis 28:13–14
- 31 Proverbs 6:34; Genesis 34:13; Genesis 49:7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences