Preface: Genesis 34 is a chapter where the plan of God moves forward, despite the actions of the people in the chapter (we will see this same sort of thing in Gen. 36, 37 and 38). God’s plan always moves forward, whether man is cooperative or not.

This chapter also foreshadows the future. The sons of Israel (Jacob) cannot remain in the land because (1) they will either be subsumed by another family or (2) they will be destroyed by the people around them. Or, another way to say this, they will become corrupted and then destroyed. At the end of this chapter, Jacob bemoans his situation: “Levi and Simeon, you have made me odious to the people of this land, and they will gather together and destroy us because we are few in number.” And this is why God will have to remove them from the land.

This should be the most extensive examination of Gen. 34 available, where you will be able to examine in depth every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 34:

Introduction

         vv.     1–4           Shechem Rapes Dinah/Shechem Loves Dinah

         vv.     5–12         Hamor and Shechem Meet with Jacob and Sons and Offer a Family Union

         vv.    13–19         The Deceptive Religious Requirement

         vv.    20–24         Hamor and Shechem Convince the Men to be Circumcised

         vv.    25–31         Jacob’s Sons Kill All of the Males and Plunder the City of Shechem

Summary

Addendum

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

         Introduction         Robert Dean’s Introductory Principles to Genesis 34

         Introduction         The Prequel of Genesis 34

         Introduction         The Principals of Genesis 34

         Introduction         The Places of Genesis 34

         Introduction         The Patriarchal Timeline for Genesis 34

         Introduction         A Synopsis of Genesis 34

         Introduction         Paragraph Divisions of Modern Translations for Genesis 34 (from Dr. Bob Utley)

         Introduction 

         Introduction 

         v. 

         v. 

         v.       2              Contemporary Lessons Found in Genesis 34 (mostly from Snider)

         v.       2              Was Dinah Raped?

         v.       2              Rape of Dinah by Alexandre Cabanel (a graphic)

         v. 

         v. 

         v.       7              The Chronology of Genesis 34:7

         v. 

         v. 

         v.       7              A Review of Genesis 34:1–7

         v.       7              Rape in the Bible

         v.       8              A Second Review of Genesis 34:1–7

         v. 

         v. 

         v.      10              Shortcuts in the Spiritual Life

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         v.      12              Some Conclusions About Shechem

         v. 

         v. 

         v.      14              The Sons of Jacob Conspire

         v. 

         v. 

         v.      18              Summary of Genesis 34:1–18

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         v.      26              When was Dinah placed into the custody of Shechem?

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         v. 

         Summary            Closing Points to Genesis 34

         Summary            Not all religions are the same

         Summary            Jacob’s Last Word on the Matter

         Summary            Why Genesis 34 is in the Word of God

         Summary            What We Learn from Genesis 34

         Summary            A Set of Summary Doctrines and Commentary

         Summary            B. H. Carroll Summarizes Genesis 34

         Summary            Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 34

         Summary 

         Addendum          Why Genesis 34 is in the Word of God

         Addendum          What We Learn from Genesis 34

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time Period

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 34

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Genesis 34

         Addendum          Word Cloud from a Reasonably Literal Paraphrase of Genesis 34

         Addendum          Word Cloud from Exegesis of Genesis 34

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An Introduction to Genesis 34

I ntroduction: Chapter 34 begins to deal with Jacob's sons. Enough time has passed to where many of them are now adults making (bad) adult decisions. Because Jacob only has recently been moved toward things spiritual, he did not raise his sons as properly as he should have. Therefore, they do not behave as they should have.

Furthermore, even though the Jewish race will come from all 12 brothers, the line of promise will go through only one of the sons of Jacob. So, one of the important aspects to the narrative of Joseph’s life is, through which brother will that line go.

In chapter 34, we also have the spoiled son of the prince who gets whatever he wants. He rapes the daughter of Jacob. After he rapes her, he decides that he wants her, so he gets his father to discuss marriage with Jacob. The brothers agree to this as long as the men of Shechem are circumcised. They agree to this. So, soon after the men are circumcised and in physical pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Levi and Simeon, go into the city and kill all the recently-circumcised males. This is one of those chapters where no one, other than Jacob, does anything right, not unlike the book of Judges. Be prepared to see the early Jews at their very worst.

Gen. 34 is another unusual chapter—once which makes us naturally ask, why did God the Holy Spirit include this chapter in the Word of God? The sons of Jacob are living adjacent to a small group of Hivites and one of the more influential of them, Shechem, rapes Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and sister to his sons. Not only is this very disconcerting to them, but then, Shechem comes to them with his father and asks if he can marry Dinah. Just how do you deal with a rapist who then wants to marry the woman he has raped?

The brothers huddle over this (this occurs outside of the scope of the Word of God) and decide to demand that these Hivites all be circumcised, and then they will all live together and intermarry. After all of the men have been circumcised, then two sons of Jacob attack and kill the men of that small city. Then the rest of Jacob’s sons plunder all the people and possessions of what remains.

Jacob realizes that they must flee as a family, because his sons have made them all a stench to the people of the land.

This is one of the more morally ambiguous chapters of Scripture. How should these men deal with the rape of their sister? Obviously, there must be a response to this lawless behavior; but their response—killing all of the men related to Shechem—is also clearly wrong. The Bible is quite interesting in its approach—it does not comment at the end, “What the sons of Jacob did was very wrong.” Nor does it say, “Here is what should have been done.” It simply records the incident, as it happened, and then let’s us think about it.

Jacob and his family are living near the city of Shechem; and this incident takes place after Jacob’s sons are young adults. There are many unusual narratives in the book of Genesis, but this is one of the most unusual. The unusual nature of this chapter may suggest that the reason that Jacob and company left Succoth was not for spiritually edifying reasons (that is, us knowing the reasons why they moved from Succoth to Shechem would not be important to us).

Leupold makes a reasonable guess as to the time frame: If Joseph, according to Genesis 37:2, was seventeen years old at the time there described, which again was shortly after the events of chapter 34, and Joseph was only about six years old at the time of Jacob’s arrival in Canaan, it would be safe to assume that the events of our chapter transpired about ten years after the return to Canaan. Dinah must have been at least fourteen years old; fifteen is not impossible. These are reasonable guesses, but, the events of this chapter point toward such an age as well.

One of the things which we see is the degeneracy of the population of Canaan slowly increasing. Remember back to Abraham interacting with the Philistines of Gerar; and then Isaac did the same in the next generation. There was a change in the attitude of the people from one generation to the next. Now we are with Jacob and his sons, the 3^rd and 4^th generations from Abraham; and it will become clear that the people of Canaan have fallen further into degeneration.

What about Sodom?, you may ask. Weren’t they a pretty degenerate crew? And God clearly and unequivocally judged them and brought down hell fire upon them. So this judgement would be known to all the peoples of the land. However, as such judgements are separated from us, further and further in time, they become less relevant to us. A contemporary example would be the judgment of AIDS upon the homosexual community. If anything, the gay movement became much more aggressive after AIDS, which is one of the more horrible wasting diseases ever, and destroyed many of their numbers.

In this chapter, and in previous chapters, we have primarily observed the interactions of the patriarchs with Philistines and others located between the Great Sea and the Dead Sea.

God’s name will not be found in this chapter.

The Patriarchal Timeline for Genesis 34

The New American Bible: The story of the rape of Dinah and the revenge of Jacob’s sons on the men of the city of Shechem may reflect the relations of the tribes of Simeon and Levi to their Canaanite neighbors around Shechem; the tribes are represented by their eponymous ancestors. Jacob’s farewell testament (49:5–7) cites this incident as the reason for the decline of the tribes of Simeon and Levi. Ominously, vv. 30–31 leave the situation unresolved, with Jacob concerned about the welfare of the whole family, and Simeon and Levi concerned only about the honor of their full sister. The danger to the family from narrow self-interest will continue in the Joseph story.

In exegeting this passage, there are two things which stand out: the vocabulary is quite different from previous chapters—there are many words found here for the first time. Now, most of the time, that can simply suggest different subject matter. However, there is also a very different style of narrative here, where not every phrase begins as a wâw consecutive followed by an imperfect verb (the most common way of presented an historical narrative). Therefore, let me suggest to you that this is a different style of writing.

——————————

Shechem Rapes Dinah/Shechem Loves Dinah

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

I will only list the translation from the Dead Sea Scrolls if it exists and if it is different from the Masoretic text.

The Targum of Onkelos is actually the Pentateuchal Targumim, which are The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel. On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. From http://www.becomingjewish.org/texts/targum/onkelos_genesis.html and first published in 1862.

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so goes out Dinah, daughter of Leah whom she bore to Jacob, to see daughters of the land.

Dead Sea Scrolls                   .

Targum (trans. By Cook)        .

Jerusalem targum                  .

Targum (Onkelos)                  And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bare to Jakob, went forth to see the daughters of the land. Translation for Onkelos and Pseudo-Jonathan by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. (1862).

Targum (Pseudo-Jonathan)   And Dinah the daughter of Leah whom she bare to Jakob, went forth to see the manners of the daughters of the people of the land.

Jerusalem targum                  .

Revised Douay-Rheims         And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that country.

Douay-Rheims 1899 (Amer.) .

Aramaic ESV of Peshitta        Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Ya'aqub, went out to see the daughters of the land.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    AND Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the native girls.

Septuagint (Greek)                The rape of Dinah. Gn.34.1-31

And Dina, the daughter of Lea, whom she bore to Jacob, went forth to observe the daughters of the inhabitants.

NETS (Greek)                        .

Brenton’s Septuagint             .

Significant differences: 

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

Bible in Basic English             Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country.

Easy English                          Dinah was the daughter of Leah and Jacob. One day she went out to visit the women who lived in the land.

Easy-to-Read Version            .

God’s Word™                         Dinah Is Raped

Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to visit some of the Canaanite women.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The Rape of Dinah

One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the Canaanite women.

International Children’s B.     Dinah Is Attacked

1Dinah was the daughter of Leah and Jacob. At this time Dinah went out to visit the women of that land.

The Message                         .

Names of God Bible               .

NIRV                                      Simeon and Levi Kill the Men of Shechem

Dinah was the daughter Leah had by Jacob. Dinah went out to visit the women of the land.

New Simplified Bible              One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the Canaanite women.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to meet the women of that country.

Contemporary English V.       Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women who lived there.

The Living Bible                     .

New Berkeley Version           .

New Century Version             Dinah Is Attacked

At this time Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land.

New Life Version                    .

New Living Translation           Revenge against Shechem

One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Well, DinAh, the daughter that LeAh bore to Jacob, went to see the daughters of the local people.

Beck’s American Translation .

International Standard V        Jacob’s Daughter Dinah is Raped

Some time later, Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the womena of the land.

New Advent (Knox)Bible        A time came when Dina, Lia’s daughter, went out to visit some of the women who dwelt in that country.

Translation for Translators                        Hamor's son Shechem raped Jacob's daughter Dinah

One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women in that area.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Awful Scroll Bible                   Dinah, his daughter, that Leah is to have bore forth to Jacob, was to go out to see the daughters of those solid grounds.

Conservapedia                       Dinah, daughter of Leah, to whom Leah had given birth for Jacob, went out to see some of the young women in the land. Literally, "daughters of the land."

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Shekhem’s Outrage on Dinah

But it happened that Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the country, and Shekhem, the son of Hamor, the Chief of the country, saw, and seized her and violated her, and disgraced her. But his soul was attached to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl, and spoke to the girl's heart. Vv. 2–3 are included for context.

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           Dina the daughter of Lea which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

HCSB                                     Dinah Defiled

Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area.

Jubilee Bible 2000                  And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she gave birth unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

Lexham English Bible            The Rape of Dinah and the Massacre at Shechem

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

NIV, ©2011                             Dinah and the Shechemites

Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land.

NIV – UK                                .

Tree of Life Version                Dinah Defiled by Shechem

Now Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore for Jacob, went out to look at the daughters of the land.

Catholic Bibles:

Christian Community (1988)  The rape of Dinah, daughter of Jacob

Now Dinah, Jacob’s daughter by Leah, went out to visit the women of that place.

The Heritage Bible                 .

New American Bible (2002)   Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the women of the land. Behind the story of the rape of Dinah and the revenge of Jacob's sons on the men of the city of Shechem there probably lies a dimly recollected historical event connected with an armed conflict between the earliest Israelite tribes invading central Canaan and the Hurrian inhabitants of the Shechem region

New American Bible (2011)   The Rape of Dinah.

Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the women of the land.

New Jerusalem Bible             Dinah, who was Jacob's daughter by Leah, went out to visit some of the women of that region.

New RSV                               .

Revised English Bible            Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit women of the district, and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the local prince, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and violated her. But Shechem was deeply attached to Jacob's daughter Dinah; he loved the girl and sought to win her affection. Vv. 2–3 are included for context.

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           .

exeGeses companion Bible   DINAH FOULED

And Dinah,

the daughter Leah birthed to Yaaqov,

goes out to see the daughters of the land:...

Hebraic Transliteration           .

Hebrew Names Version         .

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               .

Judaica Press Complete T.    .

Kaplan Translation                 The Affair of Dinah

Leah's daughter Dinah [Some say she was 12 years old (Yov'loth 30:3).], whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the local girls. The Kaplan Translation, particularly in Exodus through Deuteronomy, takes note of historic rabbinic opinions.

Natural Israelite Bible             .

Orthodox Jewish Bible           And Dinah Bat Leah, which she bore unto Ya’akov, went out to see the Banot HaAretz.

Restored Names Version       .

The Scriptures 1998              And Dinah, the daughter of Lĕ’ah, whom she had borne to Yaʽaqo, went out to see the daughters of the land.

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

The Amplified Bible                The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out [unescorted] to visit the girls of the land.

The Expanded Bible              Dinah Is Attacked

At this time Dinah, the daughter of Leah ·and [^Lwhom she bore to] Jacob [30:21], went out to ·visit [see; or be seen with] the ·women [^Ldaughters] of the land.

The Geneva Bible                  .

Kretzmann’s Commentary    Verses 1-5

Dinah Defiled

And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Dinah had probably been born in the fourteenth year of Jacob's service in Mesopotamia. She was, like Simeon and Levi, who are so prominent in this story, a child of Jacob and Leah. About ten years had now elapsed since the family had come, first to Succoth and then to Shechem, and Dinah was a young woman, the girls in the Orient reaching maturity at an early age. Dissatisfied, perhaps, with the supposed curbing of her personal liberty in her father's house, Dinah went out to make the acquaintance of the Canaanitish girls and to visit with them.

NET Bible®                             Dinah and the Shechemites

Now Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went to meet [Heb “went out to see.” The verb “to see,” followed by the preposition בְּ (bÿ), here has the idea of “look over.” The young girl wanted to meet these women and see what they were like.] the young women [Heb “daughters.”] of the land. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote. Some of their notes will be reproduced in the exegesis of the chapter.

Syndein/Thieme                     .

The Voice                               One day Dinah, Leah and Jacob’s daughter, went out to visit some of the women who lived in the land.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Brenner’s Mechanical Trans....and Dinah ^[Judgement], the daughter of Le'ah ^[Weary] which she brought forth to Ya'aqov ^{[He restrains]}, went out to see in the daughters of the land,...

Concordant Literal Version    .

A Conservative Version         .

Context Group Version          .

Darby Translation                  .

Emphasized Bible                  .

English Standard Version      The Defiling of Dinah

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.

English Standard V. – UK       .

Evidence Bible                       .

Green’s Literal Translation    .

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           .

King James 2000 Version      .

21^st Century KJV                   .

Modern English Version         Dinah Is Defiled

Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

NASB                                     The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

New European Version          Shechem Sleeps with Dinah

Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

New King James Version       The Dinah Incident

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

Orthodox England                  .

Owen's Translation                .

Restored Holy Bible               .

Third Millennium Bible            .

William Tyndale                     .

Updated Bible Version 2.11   .

A Voice in the Wilderness      .

Webster’s Bible Translation  .

World English Bible                .

Young's Literal Translation     .

Young’s Updated LT             And Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she has borne to Jacob, goes out to look on the daughters of the land.

The gist of this verse:          Dinah, a daughter of Jacob and Leah, decided to go out and see the daughters of the land.

Translation: Dinah, the daughter of Leah (whom she bore to Jacob), went out... So far, Jacob has fathered 11 sons and this daughter Dinah. It is unclear if he fathered any other daughters—but it does not appear that he did.

Dinah is one of Jacob’s daughters, and the only one of them who is named. Dinah decides that she is going to visit some of the gals in Shechem, where Jacob and company are now all living.

Translation: ...to see the daughters of the land. She goes out one day to go visited with women of that area.

What appears to be the case in the ancient world is, most young women were carefully guarded and protected by their families. Although it was a custom for women to be taken into the families that they married into, the father often received a sizeable dowry for marrying off his daughter (Laban got 7 years of work per daughter from Jacob). If a young woman has been defiled in any way, then the parents will end up supporting that daughter for the rest of their lives. Therefore, it would be normal for parents to protect their daughters from men until they are married. Because of the clear understanding of marriage and fidelity in this era, men would expect to marry a virgin (and vice versa). In our society, that probably seems rather quaint, but it is not quaint—it is God’s perfect plan.

This incident does not mean that Jacob’s family was remiss here; it simply suggests that they felt relatively safe.

There are discussions on whether or not Dinah is violating her parents’ rules—but that is quite irrelevant.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so sees her Shechem ben Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land; and so he seizes her and so he lays [with] her and so he humbles her. And so clings his soul to Dinah daughter of Jacob and so he loves the maiden. And so he speaks upon a heart of the maiden.

Dead Sea Scrolls                   .

Targum of Onkelos                .

Jerusalem targum                  .

Targum (Onkelos)                  And Shekem bar Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, and took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. And his soul took pleasure in Dinah the daughter of Jakob, and he loved the damsel, and spake to the heart of the damsel.

Targum (Pseudo-Jonathan)   And Shekem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her, and took her by force, and lay with her and afflicted her. And his soul delighted in Dinah the daughter of Jakob; and he loved the girl, and spake kindly to the heart of the girl.

Jerusalem targum                  .

Revised Douay-Rheims         And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin. And his soul was fast knit unto her, and whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words.

Douay-Rheims 1899 (Amer.) .

Aramaic ESV of Peshitta        Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Ya'aqub, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and defiled her. And his soul longed for Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl, and spoke kindly to the girl, and won her heart.

Septuagint (Greek)                And Sychem the son of Emmor the Evite, the ruler of the land, saw her, and took her and lay with her, and humbled her. And he was attached to the soul of Dina the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the maiden, and he spoke kindly to the maiden.

NETS (Greek)                        .

Brenton’s Septuagint             .

Significant differences: 

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

Bible in Basic English             And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her. Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.

Easy English                          Shechem was the son of Hamor the Hivite. Hamor was the ruler of the land. When Shechem saw Dinah, he took her. And he had sex with her. Dinah did not want this to happen. He liked Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, very much. And he loved her. He spoke kind words to her.

Easy-to-Read Version            She was seen by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area. Shechem took Dinah and raped her. But he was so attracted to her that he fell in love and began expressing his feelings to her.

God’s Word™                         When Shechem, son of the local ruler Hamor the Hivite, saw her, he took her and raped her. He became very fond of Jacob’s daughter Dinah. He loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.

Good News Bible (TEV)         .

International Children’s B.     .

The Message                         Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was chieftain there, saw her and raped her. Then he felt a strong attraction to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, fell in love with her, and wooed her.

Names of God Bible               .

NIRV                                      .

New Simplified Bible              Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of that region, saw her. He grabbed her and raped (sexually defiled) her. He found the young woman so attractive that he fell in love with her. So he tried to win her affection.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           When Shechem the son of the Hivite Hamor and the country’s prince saw her, he took her, slept with her, and humiliated her. He was drawn to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He loved the young woman and tried to win her heart.

Contemporary English V.       She was seen by Hamor's son Shechem, the leader of the Hivites, and he grabbed her and raped her. But Shechem was attracted to Dinah, so he told her how much he loved her.

The Living Bible                     One day Dinah, Leah’s daughter, went out to visit some of the neighborhood girls, but when Shechem, son of King Hamor the Hivite, saw her, he took her and raped her. He fell deeply in love with her, and tried to win her affection. V. 1 is included for context.

New Berkeley Version           .

New Century Version             When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land, saw her, he took her and forced her to have sexual relations with him. Shechem fell in love with Dinah, and he spoke kindly to her.

New Life Version                    And she was seen by Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land. He took her and made her lay with him, and she was put to shame. He had much desire for Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the girl and spoke kind words to her.

New Living Translation           But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he seized her and raped her. But then he fell in love with her, and he tried to win her affection with tender words.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Tent Dweller (and the ruler of the land), noticed her. Then he humiliated her by taking her and [having sex] with her. Yet, he was deeply drawn to the person of DinAh, Jacob's daughter… he loved the girl and spoke kindly to her.

Beck’s American Translation .

International Standard V        When Hamor the Hivite’s son Shechem, the regional leader, saw her, he grabbed her and raped her, humiliating her. He was attached to [Lit. His soul clung] Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, since he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her [Lit. to the heart of the young lady].

New Advent (Knox)Bible        .

Translation for Translators     Shechem, one of the sons of Hamor, who was descended from the Hiv people-group, saw her. He wanted her. So he grabbed her and forced her to have sex [EUP] with him. 3 He [SYN] was very much attracted to her, and fell in love with her, and he tried to get her to love him.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Awful Scroll Bible                   Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, a lifted up one of those solid grounds, was to perceive her and take her, even was he to lay down with her, and was to put her down. His breath was to cling to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He was to love the girl, and was to speak to the sensibility of the heart of the girl..

Conservapedia                       Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He then took her, was intimate with her, and humiliated her. His soul clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman, and spoke to her heart.

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           And Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite lord of the country, saw her and took her, and lay with her, and forced her: and his heart lay unto Dina the daughter of Jacob. And he loved the damsel and spoke kindly unto her, and spoke unto his father Hemor saying, get me this maiden unto my wife. V. 4 is included for context.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 .

HCSB                                     .

Jubilee Bible 2000                  .

Lexham English Bible            .

H. C. Leupold                         10. The Outrage on Dinah Avenged by her Brothers (chapter 34)

And Dinah, the daughter that Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the country; and Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, a prince of the country, saw her, and took her, and lay with her and ravished her. And he was much attached to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl, and comforted the girl’s heart. V. 1 is included for context.

NIV, ©2011                             .

NIV – UK                                .

Tree of Life Version                When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her. But his soul clung to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, and he loved the young woman and spoke reassuringly to the young woman.

Catholic Bibles:

Christian Community (1988)  When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of that country, saw her, he seized her, raped her and dishonored her. He was attracted to Jacob’s daughter Dinah and loved the girl and spoke to her affectionately.

The Heritage Bible                 And Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her, and he took her, and lay down with her, and looked down on her with harshness. And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman, and spoke to the heart of the young woman.

New American Bible (2002)   When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite [Hivite: The Greek text has "Horite"; the terms were apparently used indiscriminately to designate the Hurrian or other non-Semitic elements in Palestine.], who was chief of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. Since he was strongly attracted to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, indeed was really in love with the girl, he endeavored to win her affection.

New American Bible (2011)   When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite [the Greek text has “Horite”; the terms were apparently used indiscriminately to designate the Hurrian or other non-Semitic elements in Palestine.], the leader of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. He was strongly attracted to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and was in love with the young woman. So he spoke affectionately to her.

New Jerusalem Bible             Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, headman of the region, saw her, seized her and forced her to sleep with him. He was captivated by Dinah daughter of Jacob; he fell in love with the girl and tried to win her heart.

New RSV                               .

Revised English Bible            .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Complete Jewish Bible           One time Dinah the daughter of Le’ah, whom she had borne to Ya‘akov, went out to visit the local girls; and Sh’khem the son of Hamor the Hivi, the local ruler, saw her, grabbed her, raped her and humiliated her. But actually he was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Ya‘akov; he fell in love with the girl and tried to win her affection. V. 1 is included for context.

exeGeses companion Bible   ...and when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivviy,

hierarch of the land, sees her,

he takes her and lies down with her and humbles her:

and his soul adheres to Dinah

the daughter of Yaaqov;

and he loves the lass

and words to the heart of the lass.

Hebraic Transliteration           .

Hebrew Names Version         .

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, chief of the country, saw her, and took her and lay with her by force. Being strongly drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and in love with the maiden, he spoke to the maiden tenderly.

Judaica Press Complete T.    .

Kaplan Translation                 She was seen by Shechem, son of the chief of the region, Chamor the Hivite [See Genesis 10:17, 36:3]. He seduced her, slept with her, and [then] raped her [See Ramban; Ralbag.]. Becoming deeply attached to Jacob's daughter Dinah, he fell in love with the girl, and tried to make up with her.

Natural Israelite Bible             .

Orthodox Jewish Bible           And when Shechem Ben Chamor the Chivvi (Hivite), Nasi HaAretz, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and violated her.

And his nefesh had deveykus unto Dinah Bat Ya’akov, and he loved the na’arah, and spoke to the lev hanaarah.

Restored Names Version       .

The Scriptures 1998              .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

The Amplified Bible                When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her]. But his soul longed for and clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke comfortingly to her young heart’s wishes.

The Expanded Bible              When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite [^Cone of the tribes that inhabited Canaan], the ·ruler [prince] of the land, saw her, he took her and ·forced her to have sexual relations with him [lay with her and humiliated/violated her]. ·Shechem fell in love with Dinah [^LHis soul was bound to Dinah daugher of Jacob and he loved her], and he spoke kindly to her.

The Geneva Bible                  .

Kretzmann’s Commentary    And when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her, humbled her by robbing her of her virginity. And his soul clave unto Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. The fact that Shechem really loved Dinah and did not reject her after his sinful act places him in a somewhat better light, but it does not excuse him. To seek her love after deflowering her was not honorable.

NET Bible®                             When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her [Heb “and he took her and lay with her.” The suffixed form following the verb appears to be the sign of the accusative instead of the preposition, but see BDB 1012 s.v. שָכַב.], and sexually assaulted her. Then he became very attached [Heb “his soul stuck to [or “joined with”],” meaning Shechem became very attached to Dinah emotionally.] to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He fell in love with the young woman and spoke romantically to her [Heb “and he spoke to the heart of the young woman,” which apparently refers in this context to tender, romantic speech (Hos 2:14). Another option is to translate the expression “he reassured the young woman” (see Judg 19:3, 2 Sam 19:7; cf. NEB “comforted her”).].

Syndein/Thieme                     And when Shechem, the son of Hamor (the Hivite), prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and raped her' {shakab `anah Literally : had sexual relations with her, and 'defiled her'/'humiliated her' (indicating this was against her will and was rape}. And his {Shechem's} soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke kindly unto the damsel.

The Voice                               But when Shechem (son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region) saw Dinah, he grabbed her and raped her. His soul was drawn to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He fell in love with her and spoke tenderly to her.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Brenner’s Mechanical Trans....and Shekhem ^[Shoulder], the son of Hhamor [Donkey] the one of Hhiw ^[Village], the captain of the land, saw her and he took her and he laid her down and he afflicted her, and his being adhered with Dinah ^[Judgement], the daughter of Ya'aqov ^{[He restrains]}, and he loved the young woman and spoke upon the heart of the young woman,...

Concordant Literal Version    .

A Conservative Version         .

Context Group Version          And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; And he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. And his life clung to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he gave allegiance to the damsel, and spoke kindly to the damsel.

Darby Translation                  And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. And his soul fastened on Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the maiden, and spoke consolingly to the maiden.

Emphasized Bible                  .

English Standard Version      .

English Standard V. – UK       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.

Evidence Bible                       .

Green’s Literal Translation    .

God’s Truth (Tyndale)           .

King James 2000 Version      .

21^st Century KJV                   .

Modern English Version         When Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her. He was very smitten by Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke kindly to her.

NASB                                     When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.

New European Version          Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 4Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, Get me this young lady as a wife..

New King James Version       And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.

Orthodox England                  .

Owen's Translation                .

Restored Holy Bible               .

William Tyndale                     .

Updated Bible Version 2.11   .

A Voice in the Wilderness      .

Webster’s Bible Translation  .

World English Bible                .

Young's Literal Translation     .

Young’s Updated LT             And Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, sees her, and takes her, and lies with her, and humbles her. And his soul cleaves to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and he loves the young person, and speaks unto the heart of the young person.

The gist of this verse:          Shechem, the son of Hamor, a prince in the land, saw Dinah and accosted her, raping her. Afterwards, he realized that he was very attracted to her and he tried speaking tenderly to her.

2-3

Translation: Shechem ben Hamor, the Hivite, a prince of the land, saw her... Men, of that era, typically lived to 150 years old. They might have several wives and they might have a dozen or more children. Hamor first moved and made claims upon this land, and Shechem is his son (or descendant). The city is named after him, which suggests that he is Hamor’s firstborn (but that is not clearly stated, insofar as I know).

They were in what was then the land of Canaan; Canaan was a son of Ham, who was a son of Noah. The Hivites were descendants of one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. 10:1, 6, 15–17). They lived in the city of Shechem, which was probably named after Hamor’s son, Shechem. This is not really a city, but barely a village, which appears to be the compound of one family, who have, by whatever means, have laid claim to a large piece of land in Canaan. Jacob has purchased a portion of that land from the sons of Hamor (Gen. 33:19).

Shechem appears to have been either settled originally by Shechem or by Hamor who names the city after his son (Hamor is called the father of Shechem in Gen. 33:19—which could mean ancestor).

The fact that we keep speaking of the sons of Hamor rather than the sons of Shechem, would imply that Hamor actually settled this area, naming it after his firstborn (an assumption that I am making). It could be the other way around as well. The son may have been named after the existing city as well. Or, in the alternative, the first son and the city could have been named, more or less, simultaneously by Hamor.

Shechem is called a prince of the land, which suggests that he had equivalent power to his other brothers. He is a man of great authority in that region.

He sees Dinah traveling about.

Translation: ...and he took her and laid [with] her... Apparently, Dinah is alone and after seeing her, Shechem grabs her and lays with her.

It is actually Shechem, the son, who is involved here. He takes Dinah and he lays with her.

Translation: ...and humbled her. In this way, he humbles her. The verb here is ʿânâh (עָנָה) [pronounced ģaw-NAW], and it means, to humble [humiliate], to mishandle, to afflict; to force; to oppress [depress]; to be humiliated. Strong’s #6031 BDB #776. This verb in particular suggests that there is nothing consensual about this sexual liaison.

The last verb in this passage is Piel imperfect of ‛ânâh (עָנָה) [pronounced aw-NAW]. The Piel stem is the intensive stem and it means to humble, to mishandle, to afflict. It is specifically used several times in the Bible to indicate forcible rape. The first two verbs, in the Qal stem, which is the simple action, simple meaning stem, mean to seize and to lay; alone, these two verbs would have indicated mutual consent. The last verb, in the Piel, indicates that this is a criminal act.

The son Shechem was a degenerate bully who had been overindulged by his parents and allow pretty much a free reign from a young age. Having the same name as the city, he pretty much thought that he was hot stuff from age 5 or 6 on. His parents also thought that he was a wonderful young man and they gave him everything except for moral training and guidance. We have a generation like that from the 1980's and 90's (which is when I first made these observations). Shechem's parents found him amusing from a very young age, and laughed at many of the things that he did, even though some showed lack of direction and lack of parental guidance. As he became older, his father gave him every advantage in life that was material, being the ruler of the land—every advantage except for moral training and discipline. It is possible that his mother is no longer even on the scene and his father had no time to properly raise him, so he spoiled him instead. No matter what the causes, he was raised to become a self-indulgent, vicious criminal who needed to be executed (his background is a matter of pure conjecture on my part; the fact that he is a self-indulgent, vicious criminal will be brought out in the narrative which follows).

We know that he is a self-indulgent criminal from v. 2; he sees Dinah, who came into the city to apparently visit her the females of the land (we do not know if she had any sisters; other daughters of Jacob, if any existed, are not mentioned in Scripture). We will know from the following verses that he was used to getting whatever he wanted and that his father gave him whatever he wanted; and his father would clean up his messes after him. This is the first recorded rape in the Bible (although what occurred back in Gen. 6 possibly involved rape in some cases).

As the son of the prince of the land, Shechem would have had wealth and possessions and would likely, despite an apparent lack of training, have had a great choice of women from the land. It is possible that he was not much more than a teenager at this time (or our moral equivalent of a young teen without training). Dinah was apparently quite attractive to him so rather than making an attempt to engage her in conversation; rather than let is be known in the conversation who he was and that he had an interest in her, he just raped her instead. He showed no concern for her volition or her well-being. We do not know what led to the event, where it occurred or anything like that. We only know that his had complete and total disregard for her as a person and criminally assaulted her and should have been criminally prosecuted for this act and then executed.

How Dinah felt was not an issue to him. Who she was and what her volition was were not important issues to him. It is very likely that he knew Dinah already and was aware of her existence. He had possibly seen her come into town before and, since his father sold some land to Jacob, he knew the family to a limited degree (or knew of the family). For all we know, Shechem may have even been stalking Dinah, paying close attention, when possible, to notice her movements.

They lived in a very rural sort of area populated essentially by two families, the sons (and daughters) of Jacob and the sons (and daughters) of Hamor. There may have been other small groups of people scattered here or there. If you have ever been brought up in a small town, you will find out that everyone knows everyone else’s business. There is not much to talk about except for what everyone else is doing—and there just is not many everybody else’s to concern oneself with.

Although this chapter is often entitled The Rape of Dinah; that aspect of the story is only in the first 4 verses. Most of this narrative is about the response of Jacob’s sons and the decisions which they make after the rape has occurred.

Genesis 34:1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

It is guessed that Dinah is probably in her middle teens and that this takes place perhaps 10 years after moving to Shechem. This would mean that Jacob’s family is settled in, that many of the boys are in their teens and 20's (meaning they lack judgment and fear very little for their own lives); and they would all be settled into Shechem. On the other hand, the people of that land would still see them as newcomers and outsiders.

It was normal in that era for parents and brothers to protect the females in the family. Dinah wandering off to see some other gals may or may not have been allowed by her family. Regardless, this did put her into danger.

Genesis 34:2 And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and humbled her.

The patriarch of that family appears to be Hamor and he also appears to be in charge. We have no idea as to his age or Shechem’s age.

Genesis 34:1–2 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and humbled her.

We have determined that a rape has occurred, and have drawn several principles from this so far.

Rape of Dinah by Alexandre Cabanel (a graphic); from the Song of Songs; accessed November 11, 2015.

The narrative is more subtle than we might realize.

There are certainly different kinds of rape; and degrees of rape. Shechem may have taken Dinah forcefully, but, at the same time, he found her to be a very attractive and compelling woman. He began speaking tenderly to her, either during or after the rape (wâw consecutives combined with a series of imperfect verbs often suggest a series of consecutive or coterminous actions).

Translation: His soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob... It says that Shechem’s soul clings to Dinah. This means that he cannot get her out of his mind. He may have raped her, but he does not have the typical reaction of hating his victim afterward (somewhat of a misplaced anger towards self), but that he finds himself thinking about her with great affection. Because of what follows, it appears that this thinking in his soul occurs immediately after the rape.

Now, he will clearly continue thinking about her with great fondness after they part company.

Translation: ...and he loved [this] maiden. He realizes that he loves this maiden.

Shechem was physically attracted to Dinah from either a previous meeting or sighting or from during the time that he met her here and then took her off and raped her. Interestingly enough, after raping Dinah, Shechem became more attracted to her. Within the confines of his shallow heart, he loved Dinah—or at least what he perceived that she could do for him. Such a person is incapable of true soul love. It is theoretically possible that such a person, if he were saved and then very positive toward God's Word, could grow into a decent human being, given 4 or 5 years of intensive discipline training under God's Word. However, such a thought is theoretical.

A correct system of law would proscribe the death penalty for all those committing forcible rape (which does not include statutory rape) is by far the best way to deal with this kind of behavior—no matter how much such a one promises to behave or how much he is willing to do for the maiden afterwards.

In his very small soul, Shechem does feel an affinity for Dinah and it is as overpowering as his initial lust for her. He is a child who is used to getting whatever he wants when he wants. He may be a child of thirty or forty in this passage. A decent parent would have placed Shechem in a holding cell, presided over the criminal trial (as his father could have done) and then had him executed. However, we do not know how much his father, Hamor, actually knew about the circumstances of Shechem’s encounter with Dinah.