Listening A1: Genesis Chapter 1 - Genesis 34

Dinah was Leah's daughter and Jacob's child.

She went out to see the girls of the land.

Shechem was the son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land.

He saw her and he took her and did bad things to her.

He liked Dinah very much and he spoke kind words to her.

Shechem spoke to his father Hamor and said, "Give me this girl for my wife."

Jacob heard that Shechem had done wrong to Dinah his daughter, but his sons were with their animals in the field.

Jacob kept quiet until his sons came.

Hamor, the father of Shechem, went to Jacob to talk with him.

When Jacob's sons came from the field and heard about it, they were sad and very angry.

They were angry because he had done wrong with Jacob's daughter.

This should not be done.

Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem wants your daughter; please give her to him for his wife."

"Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters to you."

"Come live with us; the land is before you. Live there, trade there, and get land there."

Shechem said to her father and brothers, "Please be kind to me and tell me what you want; I will give it to you."

"Tell me how much dowry or gift you want, and I will give it to you; but give me the girl for my wife."

Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor with trickery because he had done wrong to Dinah their sister.

They said, "We cannot give our sister to a man who is not circumcised; that would shame us."

"Only if you become like us and every male of you is circumcised will we agree."

"Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters.

We will live with you and be one people."

"But if you do not listen and do not become circumcised, we will take our daughter and go away."

Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem.

The young man did not wait; he let them do the thing because he wanted Jacob's daughter.

He was honored above all the people in his father's house.

Hamor and Shechem went to the gate of their city and talked with the men there.

They said, "These men are at peace with us; let them live in the land and trade there.

The land is large enough for them.

Let us take their daughters for wives and give them our daughters."

"Only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and be one people: every male among us must be circumcised, as they are."

"Then all their animals and things will be ours; we only need to agree, and they will live with us."

All who went out of the gate of the city listened to Hamor and Shechem.

Every male who went out of the gate was circumcised.

On the third day, when they were hurting, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword.

They went to the city without warning and killed all the males.

They killed Hamor and Shechem with the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and left.

Jacob's sons went to the dead people and took things from the city because they had done wrong to their sister.

They took their flocks, herds, donkeys, and all that was in the city and in the field.

They took all their money, and all the little children and their women, and made them prisoners; they took all that was in the houses.

Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have made trouble for me.

The people of this land will hate me, the Canaanites and the Perizzites."

"I am few, and they will gather together and hit me.

I will be destroyed, and my house will be destroyed."

They said, "Should he treat our sister like a bad woman?"