New International Version NIV
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land.
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Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country.
2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her.
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And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her.
3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.
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Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.
4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as my wife.”
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And Shechem said to Hamor, his father, Get me this girl for my wife.
5 When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.
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Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.
6 Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob.
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Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, came out to have a talk with Jacob.
7 Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
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Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.
8 But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.
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But Hamor said to them, Shechem, my son, is full of desire for your daughter: will you then give her to him for a wife?
9 Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves.
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And let our two peoples be joined together; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10 You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.”
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Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you; do trade and get property there.
11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask.
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And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, If you will give ear to my request, whatever you say I will give to you.
12 Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I’ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.”
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However great you make the bride-price and payment, I will give it; only let me have the girl for my wife.
13 Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.
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But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister.
14 They said to them, “We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us.
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And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us:
15 We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males.
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But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you: if every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision;
16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you.
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Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to us and go on living with you as one people.
17 But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go.”
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But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go.
18 Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.
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And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 The young man, who was the most honored of all his father’s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.
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And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.
20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city.
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Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town,
21 “These men are friendly toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours.
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It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters.
22 But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are.
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But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done.
23 Won’t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.”
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Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.
24 All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
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Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision.
25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male.
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But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death.
26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left.
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And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.
27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled.
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And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister;
28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields.
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They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields,
29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
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And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
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And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.
31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”
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But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?
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