The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
Parallel Translations
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The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
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And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
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And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Genesis 34:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 25:27-34 The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
- Judges 15:3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines when I harm them.”
- 2 Samuel 13:23-29 After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons. Absalom came to the king, and said, “See now, your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.” The king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let’s not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.” He pressed him; however he would not go, but blessed him. Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him. Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!” The servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man got up on his mule, and fled.
- Job 13:4 But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
- Job 13:7 Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
- Psalms 12:2 Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Proverbs 12:13 An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.
- Proverbs 12:18-20 There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals. Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary. Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but joy comes to the promoters of peace.
- Proverbs 24:28-29 Don’t be a witness against your neighbor without cause. Don’t deceive with your lips. Don’t say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay the man according to his work.”
- Proverbs 26:24-26 A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart. When his speech is charming, don’t believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
- Isaiah 59:13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Micah 7:2 The 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.
- Matthew 28:13 saying, “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
- Romans 12:19 Don’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.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good for one another and for all.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 13. And the sons of Jacob answered. The commencement…
13. And the sons of Jacob answered. The commencement of their perfidious course is here related: for they, being outrageous rather than simply angry, wish to overthrow the whole city, and not being sufficiently strong to contend against so great a number of people, they contrive a new fraud, in order that they may suddenly rise upon the inhabitants weakened by wounds. Therefore, since the Shechemites had no strength to resist, it became a cruel butchery rather than a conquest, which increased the atrocity of wickedness in Jacob’s sons, who cared for nothing so that they might but gratify their rage. They allege in excuse, that, whereas they were separated from other nations, it was not lawful for them to give wives of their own family to the uncircumcised. Which indeed was true if they said it sincerely; but they falsely use the sacred name of God as a pretext; yea, their double profanation of that name proves them to be doubly sacrilegious; for they cared nothing about circumcision, but were intent on this one thing, how they might crush the miserable men in a state of weakness. Besides, they wickedly sever the sign from the truth which it represents; as if any one, by laying aside his uncircumcision, might suddenly pass over into the Church of God. And in this mode they pollute the spiritual symbol of life, by admitting foreigners, promiscuously and without discrimination, into its society. But since their pretense has some color of probability, we must observe what they say, that it would be disgraceful to them to give their sister to a man uncircumcised. This also is true, if they who used the words were sincere; for since they bore the mark of God in their flesh, it was wicked in them to contract marriages with unbelievers. So also, at the present time, our baptism separates us from the profane, so that whoever mixes himself with them, fixes a mark of infamy upon himself.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 34:13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem…
Gen 34:13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
Ver. 13. Deceitfully, and said, Because he had, &c.] Therefore they thought they had reason to do as they did. Satan doth so bemist men, many times, that they think they have reason to be mad, and that there is some sense in sinning; when as, indeed, our only wisdom is to keep God’s laws; {Deu 4:6} all which are founded upon so good reason, that, had God never made them, yet it had been best for us to have practised them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Deceitfully; pretending and promising marriages with them upon that…
Deceitfully; pretending and promising marriages with them upon that condition which they never intended.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor…
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor deceitfully,.... Proposing the marriage of their sister on terms after mentioned, when they never intended it should ever be: Onkelos, Jonathan, and Jarchi interpret it, "with wisdom", as if they answered wisely and prudently, but the word is never used in a good sense; and if it was wisdom, it was carnal wisdom and wicked cunning, and was disapproved of by plain hearted Jacob:
and said: or spoke in this deceitful manner:
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because he had defiled Dinah their sister; and therefore were filled with indignation at him, and fired with resentment against him, and vowed within themselves revenge upon him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Answered - deceitfully] Which nothing could excuse;…
Verse 13. Answered - deceitfully] Which nothing could excuse; yet, to show that they had had much provocation, it is immediately subjoined וידברו vaidabberu, they spoke thus because he had defiled Dinah their sister; for so this parenthesis should be read.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Deceitfully. The sons of Jacob, on this occasion, were…
Deceitfully. The sons of Jacob, on this occasion, were guilty of a grievous sin, as well by falsely pretending religion, as by excess of their revenge. Though, otherwise their zeal against so foul a crime was commendable. (Challoner) --- In this light it is viewed by Judith ix. 2. Simeon and Levi spoke on this occasion, Septuagint, as they were afterwards the chief actors, ver. 25. There were commissioned by their father to speak for him; but Jacob was ignorant of their deceit. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The sons of Jacob answered--The honor of their family…
The sons of Jacob answered--The honor of their family consisted in having the sign of the covenant. Circumcision was the external rite by which persons were admitted members of the ancient Church. But that outward rite could not make the Shechemites true Israelites; and yet it does not appear that Jacob's sons required anything more. Nothing is said of their teaching the people to worship the true God, but only of their insisting on their being circumcised; and it is evident that they did not seek to convert Shechem, but only made a show of religion--a cloak to cover their diabolical design. Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vicious, are infinitely more so when accompanied with a show of religion; and here the sons of Jacob, under the pretense of conscientious scruples, conceal a scheme of treachery as cruel and diabolical as was, perhaps, ever perpetrated.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. Sons of Jacob answered — “Jacob had scarcely…
13. Sons of Jacob answered — “Jacob had scarcely time to advance a reply; for his sons eagerly availed themselves of their share of the influence generally allowed to brothers in the matrimonial arrangements of their sisters; and they acted with a zeal to which he thought he might safely trust the matter. But he was doomed to soon perceive his error.” — Kalisch.
Deceitfully — In this they seem to have inherited something of their father’s duplicity in his younger days. And men, like Hamor and Shechem, under the impulses of ambition and of love, are easily deceived, and led to concede or adopt any thing that will serve their purpose and desire.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. the sons of Jacob] In Gen_34:13-18 we have…
13. the sons of Jacob] In Gen_34:13-18 we have the treacherous proposal, made by the sons of Jacob, by which they would be able to revenge themselves upon the Shechemites, and attack them, when they would be incapacitated for defence.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13, 14) And said . . . and they…
(13, 14) And said . . . and they said.—These are two different verbs in the Hebrew, and should be translated and spake (because he had defiled Dinah their sister), and said. The intermediate words are parenthetical, and there is no reason for translating spake by plotted, laid a snare, as Gesenius and others have done.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 13-17. And the sons of Jacob (manifestly without…
Vers. 13-17. And the sons of Jacob (manifestly without the knowledge of their father) answered Shechem and Humor his father deceitfully, and said, the object of the verb said is to be found in the next verse, "we cannot do this thing," the clause commencing because" being parenthetical (Rosenm Furst), so that it is unnecessary either to take rB,d in the unusual sense of doles struere (Schultens, Gasenius, Keil), or to supply after said with deceit" from the preceding clause (Onkelos, Ainsworth, Murphy, et alii)because he had defiled Dinah their sister (to be taken parenthetically, as already explained): and they said unto them (these words revert to the preceding verse), We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; (vide Gen_17:11) for that were a reproach unto us. The ground on which they declined a matrimonial alliance with Shechem was good; their sin lay in advancing this simply as a pretext to enable them to wreak their unholy vengeance on Shechem and his innocent people. The treacherous character of their next proposal is difficult to be reconciled with any claim to humanity, far less to religion, on the part of Jacob"s sons; so much so, that "Jacob on his death-bed can offer no palliation for the atrocious cruelty to which it led. (Gen_49:6, Gen_49:7) But in this (i.e. under this condition) will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised (literally, to have circumcision administered to you every male); then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us (i.e. to be our wives), and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. This proposal was sinful, since
(1) they had no right to offer the sign of God"s covenant to a heathen people;
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(2) they had less right to employ it in ratification of a merely human agreement; and
(3) they had least right of all to employ it in duplicity as a mask for their treachery. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then (rather, sc. then we will not consent to your proposal, and) we will take our daughter, who was still in Shechem s house (ver. 26)and we will be gone.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Demand of Jacob’s Sons
The Demand of Jacob’s Sons
v. 13. And the sons of Jacob, who had a voice in the marriage of their sister, Gen 24:50, answered Shechem and Hamor, his father, deceitfully. It was true enough that their acceptance of the proposal would never have agreed with the destiny of the chosen people of God; they would have sacrificed the Messianic promises for mere temporal gain, but the method which they adopted to carry out their purpose is inexcusable. And said, because he had defiled Dinah, their sister;
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v. 14. and they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us. That, in itself, may have been true enough that blood-relationship with such as were not Shemites was altogether undesirable, but to include this consideration in their plan of revenge was wrong.
v. 15. But in this will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;
v. 16. then will we give our daughters unto you and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
v. 17. But if ye will not hearken unto us to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. This proposal is to be condemned as hypocritical because the sons of Jacob must have known that the Israelites were not to blend with the Shechemites; it lacked sincerity.
v. 18. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem, Hamor’s son.
v. 19. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter; and he was more honorable than all the house of his father. No matter what the motive had been in defiling Dinah, Shechem now was undoubtedly sincere, and he accepted the words of Jacob’s sons at their face value. His position of power and influence was such as to give his words much weight, and he lost no time in carrying out his intention.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 34:13-17 Dinah’s brothers responded to the proposal without waiting…
34:13-17 Dinah’s brothers responded to the proposal without waiting for Jacob to respond, and they acted deceitfully. They may not have thought that Shechem and his people would ever agree to the rite of circumcision, but they knew what they would do if the Canaanites accepted (34:25).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.