Genesis 34:13–24

¹³Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with lies, because Shechem had disgraced their sister Dinah. ¹⁴The brothers said to them, “We cannot allow you to marry our sister, because you are not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: Every man in your town must be circumcised like us. ¹⁶Then your men can marry our women, and our men can marry your women, and we will live in your land and become one people. ¹⁷If you refuse to be circumcised, we will take Dinah and leave.”

¹⁸What they asked seemed fair to Hamor and Shechem. ¹⁹So Shechem quickly went to be circumcised because he loved Jacob’s daughter.

Now Shechem was the most respected man in his family. ²⁰So Hamor and Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹“These people want to be friends with us. So let them live in our land and trade here. There is enough land for all of us. Let us marry their women, and we can let them marry our women. ²²But we must agree to one thing: All our men must be circumcised as they are. Then they will agree to live in our land, and we will be one people. ²³If we do this, their cattle and their animals will belong to us. Let us do what they say, and they will stay in our land.” ²⁴All the people who had come to the city gate heard this. They agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every man was circumcised.