Genesis 34:9

9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

Genesis 34:9 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 34:9

And make ye marriages with us
There was no objection on their side, it lay on the other; Abraham's servant was charged by him not to take a wife of the Canaanites to his son Isaac; and the same charge was given Jacob by Isaac, ( Genesis 24:3 ) ( 28:1 ) ; and therefore Jacob would never agree that his children should marry any of that nation; and marriages with them were afterwards forbidden by the law of Moses, ( Deuteronomy 7:3 ) ;

[and] give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you;
for though at present there were no other daughters in Jacob's family, yet there might be hereafter; and the request is, that for the future there might be intermarriages between them, as would be practicable in a course of time.

Genesis 34:9 In-Context

7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.

8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.

9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it."

11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.