Dinah and Shechem

1 And in the first year of the sixth week [2143] he went up to Salem, to the east of Shechem, in peace,⁠a in the fourth month. 2 And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and defiled her, and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years. 3 And he implored his father and her brothers that she might be given to him as a wife. And Jacob and his sons were angry because of the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spoke to them with evil intent and dealt deceitfully with them and tricked them. 4 And Simeon and Levi came unexpectedly to Shechem and executed judgment on all the men of Shechem, and killed all the men whom they found in it, and did not leave a single one remaining in it: they killed all in torments because they had dishonored their sister Dinah. 5 And thus let it never again be done from now on that a daughter of Israel be defiled; for judgment is ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy with the sword all the men of the Shechemites because they had done a shameful thing in Israel. 6 And the Lord delivered them into the hands of the sons of Jacob so that they might exterminate them with the sword and execute judgment upon them, and so that it might not happen again in Israel that a virgin of Israel should be defiled. 7 And if there is any man who wishes in Israel to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is of the descendants of the nations he shall surely die, and they shall stone him with stones; for he has done a shameful thing in Israel; and they shall burn the woman with fire, because she has dishonored the name of the house of her father,⁠b and she shall be rooted out of Israel. 8 And let no adulteress and no impurity be found in Israel throughout all the days of the generations of the earth; for Israel is holy to the Lord, and every man who has defiled (it) shall surely die: they shall stone him with stones. 9 For thus it has been ordained and written in the heavenly tablets regarding all the descendants of Israel: he who defiles (it) shall surely die, and he shall be stoned with stones. 10 And to this commandment there is no limit of days, and no pardon, nor any atonement: but the man who has defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the midst of all Israel, because he has given of his descendants to Moloch,⁠c and acted irreverently so as to defile it.

The Prohibition of Intermarriage

11 And you, Moses, command the children of Israel and urge them not to give their daughters to the nations, and not to take for their sons any of the daughters of the nations, for this is abominable before the Lord. 12 For this reason I have written for you in the words of the Torah all the deeds of the Shechemites, which they did against Dinah, and how the sons of Jacob spoke, saying: 'We will not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised; for that would be a disgrace to us.' 13 And it is a disgrace to Israel, to those who give, and to those that take the daughters of the nations; for this is unclean and abominable to Israel. 14 And Israel will not be free from this impurity if it has a wife of the daughters of the nations, or has given any of its daughters to a man who is of any of the nations. 15 For there will be plague upon plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment and plague and curse will come upon him: if he does this thing, or hides his eyes from those who commit impurity, or those who defile the sanctuary of the Lord, or those who profane His holy name, (then) the whole nation together will be judged for all the impurity and profanation of this man. 16 And there will be no favoritism [and no preferential treatment] and no accepting from him of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of pleasing aroma, so as to accept it: and so let it be with every man or woman in Israel who defiles the sanctuary.

Levi and the Priesthood

17 For this reason I have commanded you, saying: 'Testify this testimony to Israel: see how the Shechemites fared and their sons: how they were delivered into the hands of two sons of Jacob, and they killed them under tortures, and it was (counted) to them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for righteousness. 18 And the descendants of Levi were chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, so that they might serve before the Lord, as we, continually, and that Levi and his sons may be blessed forever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and judgment and vengeance on all those who rose against Israel. 19 And so they inscribe as a testimony in his favor on the heavenly tablets blessing and righteousness before the God of all:⁠d 20 And we remember the righteousness which the man fulfilled during his life, at all periods of the year; until a thousand generations they will record it, and it will come to him and to his descendants after him, and he has been recorded on the heavenly tablets as a friend and a righteous man. 21 All this account I have written for you, and have commanded you to say to the children of Israel, that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances nor break the covenant which has been ordained for them, (but) that they should fulfill it and be recorded as friends. 22 But if they transgress and practice impurity in every way, they will be recorded on the heavenly tablets as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the book of life,⁠e and they will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be rooted out of the earth. 23 And on the day when the sons of Jacob killed Shechem a writing was recorded in their favor in heaven that they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the sinners, and it was written for a blessing. 24 And they brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem, and they took captive everything that was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their donkeys, and all their wealth, and all their flocks, and brought them all to Jacob their father. 25 And he reproached them because they had put the city to the sword for he feared those who lived in the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 26 And the dread of the Lord was upon all the cities which are around Shechem, and they did not rise to pursue the sons of Jacob; for terror had fallen upon them.