The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
Parallel translations
- KJV And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
- BSB But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.
- NKJV But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
- NASB But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.
- NLT But since Shechem had defiled their sister, Dinah, Jacob’s sons responded deceitfully to Shechem and his father, Hamor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jacob's sons answer Shechem and Hamor deceitfully because their sister had been defiled.
Overview
The narrator openly labels the brothers' reply as deceit, condemning their treachery even while acknowledging the genuine wrong done to Dinah. Scripture does not approve their method; it records honestly that they used a sacred sign as a weapon of revenge. This sets the moral frame for the violence to come, which Jacob later denounces.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Job 13:7Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
- 2 Sam 13:23–29After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
- Prov 24:28–29Don’t be a witness against your neighbor without cause. Don’t deceive with your lips.
- Rom 12:19Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- Gen 25:27–34The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
- Prov 12:18–20There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.
- Ps 12:2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Matt 28:13saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
- Prov 26:24–26A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.
- Isa 59:13transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Job 13:4But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
- Prov 12:13An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.
- Mic 7:2The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
- Judg 15:3Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines, when I harm them.”
- 1 Th 5:15See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, for one another, and for all.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 34:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.