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Genesis 34

Genesis 34 follows the violation of Dinah into deceptive negotiations, collective slaughter, and an unresolved dispute over the brothers’ response.

Dinah, Jacob and Leah’s daughter, goes out to meet the women of the land, and Shechem, a local prince, sexually violates her. Shechem then seeks to marry her, while his father proposes marriages and trade between their peoples. Jacob’s sons answer with deceit, demanding circumcision. While the city’s men recover, Simeon and Levi kill them and take Dinah from Shechem’s house. The brothers plunder the city, and Jacob confronts Simeon and Levi over the danger they have brought upon his household.

injustice and angerfamily conflictsermon or Bible study notes
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1Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.
3His 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.”
5Now 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.
7The 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.
8Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”
11Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.
12Ask 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.”
13The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
14and 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.
19The 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.
20Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,
23Won’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.”
24All 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.
25On 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.
26They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.
27Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,
30Jacob 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.”
31They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”
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Key verses
Genesis 34:2Shechem’s violation of Dinah begins the conflict; his later affection and marriage offer do not erase what he has done.
Genesis 34:7The brothers’ grief and anger reflect the gravity of the offense, before their response turns to deceit and slaughter.
Genesis 34:30Jacob names the danger of retaliation against his household, while the brothers’ final reply leaves their dispute unresolved.
Where this chapter reaches

The account shares with 2 Samuel the events of a daughter’s sexual violation and a brother’s lethal revenge, though the people and circumstances differ. Proverbs also addresses deceit and anger that lead to strife, themes enacted here through negotiations and bloodshed.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does the chapter report about Dinah, and what does it leave unheard from her?

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Where do you see the brothers’ response extend harm beyond Shechem, and what questions about justice follow?

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Questions people ask about Genesis 34

What happened to Dinah in Genesis 34?

Shechem takes Dinah and sexually violates her, an act the narrative describes as defilement and something that ought not to be done. He then seeks to marry her. The chapter records no words from Dinah and assigns her no blame for going out to meet the women of the land.

Why did Jacob’s sons demand circumcision in Genesis 34?

Jacob’s sons present circumcision as the condition for intermarriage and becoming one people, but the narrator states that their answer is deceitful. Hamor and Shechem persuade the city’s men to agree. On the third day, while the men are sore, Simeon and Levi attack and kill them.

Did God approve of Simeon and Levi’s revenge?

Genesis 34 records no command from God authorizing the attack and no statement of divine approval. It describes deceit, the killing of all the city’s males, plunder, and the capture of women and children. Jacob protests the danger to his household; the brothers defend their action by appealing to Dinah’s mistreatment.

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What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).