NLT One Year Bible - Flipbook - Page 61
57
the other hand, traveled on to Succoth.
There he built himself a house and
made shelters for his livestock. That is
why the place was named Succoth
(which means “shelters”).
18Later, having traveled all the way
from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely
at the town of Shechem, in the land of
Canaan. There he set up camp outside
the town. 19 Jacob bought the plot of
land where he camped from the family
of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for
100 pieces of silver.* 20And there he
built an altar and named it El-EloheIsrael.*
34:1One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the
young women who lived in the area.
2But when the local prince, Shechem
son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah, he
seized her and raped her. 3But then he
fell in love with her, and he tried to win
her affection with tender words. 4He
said to his father, Hamor, “Get me this
young girl. I want to marry her.”
5 Soon Jacob heard that Shechem had
defiled his daughter, Dinah. But since his
sons were out in the fields herding his
livestock, he said nothing until they returned. 6Hamor, Shechem’s father, came
to discuss the matter with Jacob. 7Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the
field as soon as they heard what had
happened. They were shocked and furious that their sister had been raped.
Shechem had done a disgraceful thing
against Jacob’s family,* something that
should never be done.
8Hamor tried to speak with Jacob and
his sons. “My son Shechem is truly in
love with your daughter,” he said.
“Please let him marry her. 9 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. 10And you may live among us; the
land is open to you! Settle here and
trade with us. And feel free to buy property in the area.”
11Then Shechem himself spoke to
Dinah’s father and brothers. “Please be
J A N U A R Y
1 6
kind to me, and let me marry her,” he
begged. “I will give you whatever you
ask. 12No matter what dowry or gift you
demand, I will gladly pay it—just give me
the girl as my wife.”
13But since Shechem had defiled their
sister, Dinah, Jacob’s sons responded deceitfully to Shechem and his father,
Hamor. 14 They said to them, “We
couldn’t possibly allow this, because
you’re not circumcised. It would be a disgrace for our sister to marry a man like
you! 15 But here is a solution. If every man
among you will be circumcised like we
are, 16 then we will give you our daughters, and we’ll take your daughters for
ourselves. We will live among you and
become one people. 17 But if you don’t
agree to be circumcised, we will take her
and be on our way.”
18Hamor and his son Shechem agreed
to their proposal. 19 Shechem wasted no
time in acting on this request, for he
wanted Jacob’s daughter desperately.
Shechem was a highly respected member of his family, 20 and he went with his
father, Hamor, to present this proposal to
the leaders at the town gate.
21“These men are our friends,” they
said. “Let’s invite them to live here
among us and trade freely. Look, the
land is large enough to hold them. We
can take their daughters as wives and let
them marry ours. 22But they will consider staying here and becoming one
people with us only if all of our men are
circumcised, just as they are. 23But if we
do this, all their livestock and possessions will eventually be ours. Come, let’s
agree to their terms and let them settle
here among us.”
24So all the men in the town council
agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and
every male in the town was circumcised.
25 But three days later, when their wounds
were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons,
Simeon and Levi, who were Dinah’s full
brothers, took their swords and entered
the town without opposition. Then they
slaughtered every male there, 26 including Hamor and his son Shechem. They
killed them with their swords, then took
