The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 50
page 46
One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah,
went to visit some of the young women who
lived in the area. 2 But when the local prince,
Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw Dinah,
he seized her and raped her. 3 But then he fell in
love with her, and he tried to win her affection
with tender words. 4 He 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. 6 Hamor, Shechem’s
father, came to discuss the matter with Jacob.
7 Meanwhile, 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.
8 Hamor tried to speak with Jacob and his
sons. “My son Shechem is truly in love with
your daughter,” he said. “Please let him marry
EXODUS
PATRIARCH
PATRIARCH
CREATION
1
33:19 Hebrew 100 kesitahs; the value or weight of the kesitah is
no longer known. 33:20 El-Elohe-Israel means “God, the God of
Israel.” 34:7 Hebrew a disgraceful thing in Israel.
DIVIDED
KINGDOM
Revenge against Shechem • GENESIS 34:1-31
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.”
11 Then Shechem himself spoke to Dinah’s father and brothers. “Please be kind to me, and let
me marry her,” he begged. “I will give you whatever you ask. 12 No matter what dowry or gift you
demand, I will gladly pay it—just give me the
girl as my wife.”
13 But 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.”
18 Hamor 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. 22 But they will consider
staying here and becoming one people with us
only if all of our men are circumcised, just as
they are. 23 But 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.”
24 So 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
KINGDOM
brought you, for God has been very gracious to
me. I have more than enough.” And because Jacob
insisted, Esau finally accepted the gift.
12 “Well,” Esau said, “let’s be going. I will lead
the way.”
13 But Jacob replied, “You can see, my lord, that
some of the children are very young, and the
flocks and herds have their young, too. If they
are driven too hard, even for one day, all the
animals could die. 14 Please, my lord, go ahead
of your servant. We will follow slowly, at a pace
that is comfortable for the livestock and the
children. I will meet you at Seir.”
15 “All right,” Esau said, “but at least let me assign some of my men to guide and protect you.”
Jacob responded, “That’s not necessary. It’s
enough that you’ve received me warmly, my lord!”
16 So Esau turned around and started back to
Seir that same day. 17 Jacob, on 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”).
18 Later, having traveled all the way from Paddanaram, Jacob arrived safely at the town of Shechem,
in the land of Canaan. There he set up camp outside
the town. 19Jacob 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-Elohe-Israel.*
JUDGES
•
CONQUEST
JANUARY 12
