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New Living Translation |   | |
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| | Gen 34:1 | One day Dinah, Leah's daughter, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area.
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| | Gen 34:2 | But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw her, he took her and raped her.
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| | Gen 34:3 | But Shechem's love for Dinah was strong, and he tried to win her affection.
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| | Gen 34:4 | He even spoke to his father about it. "Get this girl for me," he demanded. "I want to marry her."
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| | Gen 34:5 | Word soon reached Jacob that his daughter had been defiled, but his sons were out in the fields herding cattle so he did nothing until they returned.
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| | Gen 34:6 | Meanwhile, Hamor, Shechem's father, came out to discuss the matter with Jacob.
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| | Gen 34:7 | He arrived just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. They were shocked and furious that their sister had been raped. Shechem had done a disgraceful thing against Jacob's family, a thing that should never have been done.
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| | Gen 34:8 | Hamor told Jacob and his sons, "My son Shechem is truly in love with your daughter, and he longs for her to be his wife. Please let him marry her.
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| | Gen 34:9 | We invite you to let your daughters marry our sons, and we will give our daughters as wives for your young men.
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| | Gen 34:10 | And you may live among us; the land is open to you! Settle here and trade with us. You are free to acquire property among us."
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| | Gen 34:11 | Then Shechem addressed Dinah's father and brothers. "Please be kind to me, and let me have her as my wife," he begged. "I will give whatever you require.
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| | Gen 34:12 | No matter what dowry or gift you demand, I will pay it--only give me the girl as my wife."
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| | Gen 34:13 | But Dinah's brothers deceived Shechem and Hamor because of what Shechem had done to their sister.
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| | Gen 34:14 | They said to them, "We couldn't possibly allow this, because you aren't circumcised. It would be a disgrace for her to marry a man like you!
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| | Gen 34:15 | But here is a solution. If every man among you will be circumcised like we are,
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| | Gen 34:16 | we will intermarry with you and live here and unite with you to become one people.
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| | Gen 34:17 | Otherwise we will take her and be on our way."
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| | Gen 34:18 | Hamor and Shechem gladly agreed,
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| | Gen 34:19 | and Shechem lost no time in acting on this request, for he wanted Dinah desperately. Shechem was a highly respected member of his family,
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| | Gen 34:20 | and he appeared with his father before the town leaders to present this proposal.
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| | Gen 34:21 | "Those men are our friends," they said. "Let's invite them to live here among us and ply their trade. For the land is large enough to hold them, and we can intermarry with them.
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| | Gen 34:22 | But they will consider staying here only on one condition. Every one of us men must be circumcised, just as they are.
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| | Gen 34:23 | But if we do this, all their flocks and possessions will become ours. Come, let's agree to this so they will settle here among us."
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| | Gen 34:24 | So all the men agreed and were circumcised.
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| | Gen 34:25 | But three days later, when their wounds were still sore, two of Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, took their swords, entered the town without opposition, and slaughtered every man there,
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| | Gen 34:26 | including Hamor and Shechem. They rescued Dinah from Shechem's house and returned to their camp.
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| | Gen 34:27 | Then all of Jacob's sons plundered the town because their sister had been defiled there.
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| | Gen 34:28 | They seized all the flocks and herds and donkeys--everything they could lay their hands on, both inside the town and outside in the fields.
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| | Gen 34:29 | They also took all the women and children and wealth of every kind.
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| | Gen 34:30 | Afterward Jacob said to Levi and Simeon, "You have made me stink among all the people of this land--among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will come and crush us. We will all be killed!"
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| | Gen 34:31 | "Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?" they retorted angrily.
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