Genesis 34 explained: Dinah and Her Brothers' Revenge

Dinah is taken (vv. 1-4)

Shechem, the local ruler's son, takes Dinah and has sex with her; most readers understand this as rape, as one translation says, while another says he 'humbled' her. The narrator adds that he loved her (v. 3), and Shechem asks his father to get her as his wife (v. 4), but Dinah herself never speaks.

News reaches the family (vv. 5-7)

Jacob keeps silent until his sons come home, and they arrive furious at what the text calls an outrage 'in Israel' (v. 7), using the name God gave Jacob himself (32:28), in a phrase later used for the whole nation. From here on, the brothers rather than their father drive what happens.

Hamor's offer (vv. 8-12)

Hamor proposes that the two groups intermarry, share the land and trade freely, and Shechem offers any bride price and gift, the payment and presents a groom gave when arranging a marriage. Neither man apologizes, and verse 26 shows Dinah is still in Shechem's house.

A trick about circumcision (vv. 13-24)

The narrator warns that the brothers are answering with deceit (v. 13) when they demand that every man be circumcised, a cutting of the foreskin that marked God's binding promise to Abraham's family (chapter 17). Hamor wins over his city partly by saying Jacob's livestock and goods will become theirs (v. 23), a point he never makes to Jacob's family.

The massacre (vv. 25-29)

Three days later, while the men are still in pain, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's full brothers through their mother Leah, kill every male in the city, including Hamor and Shechem, and take Dinah back. Jacob's sons then loot the city and carry off its women and children as captives, so a whole town pays for one man's act.

Jacob and his sons clash (vv. 30-31)

Jacob complains that his sons have made the family hated and put everyone in danger, speaking of safety rather than of the killings themselves. The brothers reply with a question about their sister that the chapter leaves unanswered, though near his death Jacob curses Simeon and Levi's violent anger (49:5-7).

Key verse: Genesis 34:31

Where Christians differ

Readers, Christian and Jewish alike, differ on how far the story condemns the brothers: many see it as a warning against revenge, pointing to Jacob's later curse on their anger (49:5-7), while others think the unanswered question in verse 31 gives real weight to their outrage over what was done to their sister.

Something to think about

When someone you love has been badly wronged, what do you think separates seeking justice from taking revenge?