And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
Parallel translations
- WEB The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, 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 ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
- 2 Sam 13:23–29And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baalhazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.
- Prov 24:28–29Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
- Rom 12:19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
- Gen 25:27–34And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
- Prov 12:18–20There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
- Ps 12:2They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
- Matt 28:13Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
- Prov 26:24–26He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;
- Isa 59:13In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Job 13:4But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
- Prov 12:13The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
- Mic 7:2The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
- Judg 15:3And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
- 1 Th 5:15See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
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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
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