And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,
Parallel translations
- WEB Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,
- BSB So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city:
- NKJV And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying:
- NASB So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying,
- NLT and he went with his father, Hamor, to present this proposal to the leaders at the town gate.
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
Hamor and Shechem go to the city gate to persuade the townsmen to accept the terms.
Overview
The city gate was the place of public assembly and decision. There the rulers commend the agreement to their people, using their authority to win consent. Their persuasion draws the whole community into a covenant they do not truly understand, with deadly consequences.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ruth 4:1Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
- Deut 17:5Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
- Amos 5:10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
- Gen 22:17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
- 2 Sam 15:2And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
- Zech 8:16These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
- Job 29:7When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
- Prov 31:23Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
- Gen 23:10And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
- Amos 5:12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
- Amos 5:15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
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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 34:20 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.