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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

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Chapter 34

1 And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went forth to observe the daughters of the inhabitants. 2 And Shechem the son of Hamor the Horite, the ruler of the land, saw her, and took her and lay with her, and humbled her. 3 And he was attached to the soul of Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman, and he spoke kindly to the young woman. 4 Shechem spoke to Hamor his father, saying, Take for me this young woman as a wife. 5 And Jacob heard that the son of Hamor had defiled Dinah his daughter (now his sons were with his cattle in the plain). And Jacob was silent until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went forth to Jacob, to speak to him. 7 And the sons of Jacob came from the plain; and when they heard, the men were deeply pained, and it distressed them greatly, because the man committed folly in Israel, having lain with the daughter of Jacob, and so it must not be. 8 And Hamor spoke to them, saying, Shechem my son has chosen in his heart your daughter; give her therefore to him for a wife, 9 and intermarry with us. Give us your daughters, and take our daughters for your sons. 10 And dwell in the midst of us; and, look, the land is spacious before you, dwell in it, and trade, and get possessions in it. 11 And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, I would find grace before you, and we will give whatever you shall name. 12 Multiply your demand of dowry very much, and I will give accordingly as you shall say to me, only you shall give me this young woman for a wife. 13 And the sons of Jacob answered to Shechem and Hamor his father craftily, and spoke to them, because they had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 And Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, and sons of Leah, said to them, We shall not be able to do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for it is a reproach to us. 15 Only on these terms will we conform to you, and dwell among you, if you also will be as we are, in that every male of you be circumcised. 16 And we will give our daughters to you, and we will take of your daughters for wives to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will be as one race. 17 But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised,⁠ we will take our daughters and depart. 18 And the words pleased Hamor, and Shechem the son of Hamor. 19 And the young man did not delay to do this thing, for he was much attached to Jacob's daughter, and he was the most honorable of all in his father's house. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 These men are peaceful, let them dwell with us upon the land, and let them trade in it, and look, the land is extensive before them; we will take their daughters to us for wives, and we will give them our daughters. 22 Only on these terms will the men conform to us to dwell with us so as to be one people, if every male of us be circumcised, as they also are circumcised. 23 And shall not their cattle and their possessions, and their four-footed beasts, be ours? only in this let us conform to them, and they will dwell with us. 24 And all that went in at the gate of their city listened to Hamor and Shechem his son, and they were circumcised in the flesh of their foreskin every male. 25 And it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took each man his sword, and came upon the city securely, and killed every male. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of the house of Shechem, and went forth. 27 But the sons of Jacob came upon the wounded, and ravaged the city in which they had defiled Dinah their sister. 28 And their sheep, and their oxen, and their donkeys they took, and all things whatever were in the city, and whatever were in the plain. 29 And they took captive all the persons of them, and all their store, and their wives, and plundered both whatever things there were in the city, and whatever things there were in the houses. 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made me hateful so that I should be evil to all the inhabitants of the land, both among the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and I am few in number; they will gather themselves against me and cut me in pieces, and I shall be utterly destroyed, and my house. 31 And they said, No, but shall they treat our sister as a harlot?

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 34:17 and LXX Genesis 34:17

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Genesis 34 shows Jacob’s sons saying they would take their sister and leave if Shechem’s family refused them, implying Dinah was held captive. The Greek Septuagint changes this to “their daughters,” likely to remove mention of Dinah’s situation.

Passages

Genesis 34:17

Hebrew Bible
15 We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males. 16 Then we will give you our daughters to marry, and we will take your daughters as wives for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. 17 But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart.” 18 Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 34:17

Septuagint
15 Only on these terms will we conform to you, and dwell among you, if you also will be as we are, in that every male of you be circumcised. 16 And we will give our daughters to you, and we will take of your daughters for wives to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will be as one race. 17 But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, we will take our daughters and depart. 18 And the words pleased Hamor, and Shechem the son of Hamor.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

References

"... The other noteworthy change is found in 34:17. Here the sons of Jacob prescribe the alternatives for Hamor and Shechem. If they don't accede to the demand that they be circumcised. then Jacob's family will take their 'daughter' and will go. While the Hebrew has a singular here referring to Dinah, the Greek translates with a plural. Was Dinah being held hostage by the family of Shechem while this bargaining was going on or not? If she is being held, that illuminates the nature of the dialogue and the coming attack on the residents of Shechem. The Hebrew with a singular implies she is a hostage. The plural referring to the hypothetical 'daughters' of 34:16 does not imply that any hostage is being held ..."
John A. Beck, Translators as Storytellers: A Study in Septuagint Translation Technique, StBibLit 25 (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 31.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 34:17 and LXX Genesis 34:17

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