Genesis 34:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

NIV: Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves.

NASB: And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.

CSB: Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

NLT: In fact, let’s arrange other marriages, too. You give us your daughters for our sons, and we will give you our daughters for your sons.

KJV: And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.

NKJV: And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves.

Hamor and his son Shechem have come to ask Jacob for Dinah's hand in marriage to Shechem (Genesis 34:8). Jacob and his sons, however, know that Shechem has raped Dinah and that she has not returned from the city (Genesis 34:1–5). Shechem's father, the ruler of the city, has made clear that Shechem is in love with Dinah. Whether or not this is meant to ease the anger of Jacob's family is unclear. What is clear, looking at the rest of this chapter, is that his efforts to appease Dinah's brothers will fail miserably.

Now Hamor continues by suggesting even more inter-marrying between their peoples. In the following verse, he will expand on this proposal for alliance. This immediate proposal for a broad intermingling sounds like a diplomatic tactic. Hamor most likely understands that his son's actions expose their family to revenge. Jacob's family is already large, wealthy, and powerful (Genesis 30:43). Hamor is not speaking as a more-powerful man to someone insignificant; he's dealing with a legitimate threat.

Genesis 34:1–12 describes a depraved attack on one of Jacob's children. Dinah, his daughter through Leah, is raped by Shechem, son of the local prince. Jacob waits until his sons return to let them know about this act. With apparently no remorse, the rapist and his father arrive to ask for Dinah to be married to her attacker. Shechem proclaims his love, offering any price to have Dinah as his wife. Dinah's brothers respond with a combination of deceit and violence that will echo through the rest of Israel's history.

Jacob's family has settled within sight of the city of Shechem. Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, is raped by the son of the city's ruler Hamor, also named Shechem. Shechem decides he loves Dinah and wants to marry her. Dinah's brothers are outraged. Hamor and Shechem, however, ask for Dinah to be given to Shechem as a wife and for their people to intermarry. Jacob's sons pretend to agree, provided the men of the city are circumcised. Instead, while the town's men are recuperating, Dinah's brothers by Leah, Levi and Simeon, lead a slaughter of all the men of the city.

With the blessing of the Lord, Jacob has survived his reunion with his brother Esau and settled his family in the land of Canaan, in a city called Shechem. Some time passes and then Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped by the son of the ruler of the city. To exact revenge and defend their sister's honor, Jacob's sons trick the men of the city into being circumcised and then slaughter all of them when they are recovering, plundering all the wealth of the people. This creates fear in the local Canaanite communities, who avoid future confrontation with Jacob's family.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 5/8/2024 4:41:36 PM