Genesis 34:9

9 Make marriages with us. Give us your daughters 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 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard [it]. And the men were distressed and very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations with the daughter of Jacob--{something that} should not be done.

8 And Hamor spoke with them saying, "Shechem my son {is in love with} your daughter. Please give her to him for a wife.

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

10 You shall dwell with us and the land shall be before you; settle and trade in it, and acquire [property] in it."

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