Genesis 34–35

The Rape of Dinah and the Massacre at Shechem

34Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ²And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. And he took her and lay with her and raped her. ³And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly^a to the girl. ⁴So Shechem said to Hamor his father, saying, “Get this girl for me as a wife.”

⁵And Jacob heard that Dinah his daughter had been defiled, but his sons were with his flocks in the field. And Jacob kept silent until they came. ⁶And Hamor, father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. And the men were distressed and very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations with the daughter of Jacob—something that^b should not be done. ⁸And Hamor spoke with them saying, “Shechem my son is in love with^c your daughter. Please give her to him for a wife. ⁹Make marriages with us. Give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You shall dwell with us and the land shall be before you; settle and trade in it, and acquire property in it.” ¹¹Then Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will do. ¹²Make the bride price and gift as high as you like;^d I will give what you say to me. But give me the girl as a wife.” ¹³Then the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor speaking deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace for us. ¹⁵Only on this condition will we give consent to you; if you will become like us—every male among you to be circumcised. ¹⁶Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take for ourselves your daughters, and we will live with you and become one family. ¹⁷But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our daughters and we will go.” ¹⁸And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem, the son of Hamor. ¹⁹And the young man did not delay to do the thing, for he wanted the daughter of Jacob. Now he was the most honored of his father’s house. ²⁰Then Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹“These men are at peace with us. Let them dwell in the land and let them trade in it. Now, behold, the land is broad enough for them.^e Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give our daughters to them. ²²Only on this condition will the men give consent to us, to live with us and to become one family—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us give consent to them so they will live among us.” ²⁴And all those who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male was circumcised, all those who went out of the gate of his city. ²⁵And it happened that on the third day, while they were in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, each took his sword and came against the unsuspecting city and killed all the males. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah from the house of Shechem and went out. ²⁷The other sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸They took their flocks and their cattle and their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and whatever was in the field. ²⁹They captured and plundered all that was in the houses—all their wealth, their little ones, and their women. ³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites! I am few in number! If they gather against me and attack me, I will be destroyed—I and my household!” ³¹But they said, “Shall he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Jacob Goes Back to Bethel

35And God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother.” ²Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are in your midst and purify yourselves and change your garments. ³Then let us make ready and let us go up to Bethel, so that I can make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my trouble, and who has been with me on the way that I have gone.” ⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hands, and the ornamental rings that were in their ears. And Jacob buried them under the oak which was near Shechem. ⁵Then they set out on their journey, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, so that they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. ⁶And Jacob came to Luz which was in the land of Canaan (that is Bethel), he and all the people that were with him. ⁷And he built an altar there and called the place El-Bethel, for there God had appeared to him when he fled before his brother. ⁸And Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, died. And she was buried below Bethel, under the oak. And its name was called Allon-Bacuth.^{a 9}And God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-Aram, and he blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” Then his name was called Israel. ¹¹And God said to him, “I am El-Shaddai.^b Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and an assemblage of nations shall be from you, and kings shall go out from your loins. ¹²And as for the land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, I will give it to you. And to your descendants after you I will give the land. ¹³And God went up from him at the place where he spoke with him. ¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar at the place where God had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. And he poured out a drink offering upon it, and poured oil on it. ¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

The Death of Rachel

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when they were still some distance^c from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. And she had hard labor. ¹⁷And when her labor was the most difficult^d the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid for you have another son.”^{e 18}And it happened that when her life was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-Oni.^f But his father called him Benjamin.^{g 19}And Rachel died and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰And Jacob erected a pillar at her burial site. That is the pillar of the burial site of Rachel unto this day. ²¹And Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.^{h 22}And while Israel was living in that land Reuben went and had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. And Israel heard about it.

The Twelve Sons of Jacob

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³The sons of Leah: The firstborn of Jacob was Reuben. Then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Bilhah, the female slave of Rachel: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶The sons of Zilpah, the female slave of Leah: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-Aram.

The Death of Isaac

²⁷And Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre, or Kiriath-Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac dwelled as aliens. ²⁸Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. ²⁹And Isaac passed away and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.