Kejadian 34:8-12

34:8 But Hamor made this appeal to them: “My son Shechem is in love with your daughter. ¹  Please give her to him as his wife. 34:9 Intermarry with us. ²  Let us marry your daughters, and take our daughters as wives for yourselves. ³  34:10 You may live ⁴  among us, and the land will be open to you. ⁵  Live in it, travel freely in it, ⁶  and acquire property in it.”

34:11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s ⁷  father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me ⁸  I’ll give. ⁹  34:12 You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, ¹⁰  and I’ll give ¹¹  whatever you ask ¹²  of me. Just give me the young woman as my wife!”

[34:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Shechem my son, his soul is attached to your daughter.” The verb means “to love” in the sense of being emotionally attached to or drawn to someone. This is a slightly different way of saying what was reported earlier (v. 3). However, there is no mention here of the offense. Even though Hamor is speaking to Dinah’s brothers, he refers to her as their daughter (see v. 17).

[34:9]  ² tn Heb “form marriage alliances with us.”

[34:9]  sn Intermarry with us. This includes the idea of becoming allied by marriage. The incident foreshadows the temptations Israel would eventually face when they entered the promised land (see Deut 7:3; Josh 23:12).

[34:9]  ³ tn Heb “Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.” In the translation the words “let…marry” and “as wives” are supplied for clarity.

[34:10]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.

[34:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “before you.”

[34:10]  ⁶ tn The verb seems to carry the basic meaning “travel about freely,” although the substantival participial form refers to a trader (see E. A. Speiser, “The Verb sh£r in Genesis and Early Hebrew Movements,” BASOR 164 [1961]: 23-28); cf. NIV, NRSV “trade in it.”

[34:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Dinah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “whatever you say.”

[34:11]  ⁹ tn Or “pay.”

[34:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Make very great upon me the bride price and gift.” The imperatives are used in a rhetorical manner. Shechem’s point is that he will pay the price, no matter how expensive it might be.

[34:12]  ¹¹ tn The cohortative expresses Shechem’s resolve to have Dinah as his wife.

[34:12]  ¹² tn Heb “say.”