Book of Jasher 33
Chapter 33
1.
And in some time after Jacob went
away from the borders of the land, and he came to the
city of
the
rested in front of the city.
2.
And he bought a parcel of the field
which was there, from the children of Hamor the people of the land, for five
shekels.
3.
And Jacob there built himself a house,
and he pitched his tent there, and he made booths for his cattle, therefore he
called the name of that place Succoth.
4.
And Jacob remained in Succoth a year
and six months.
5.
At that time some of the women of the
inhabitants of the land went to the city of Shechem to dance and rejoice with
the daughters of the people of the city, and when they went forth then Rachel
and Leah the wives of Jacob with their families also went to behold the
rejoicing of the daughters of the city.
6.
And Dinah the daughter of Jacob also
went along with them and saw the daughters of the city, and they remained there
before these daughters whilst all the people of the city were standing by them
to behold their rejoicings, and all the great people of the city were there.
7.
And Shechem the son of Hamor, the
prince of the land was also standing there to see them.
8.
And Shechem beheld Dinah the daughter
of Jacob sitting with her mother before the daughters of the city, and the
damsel pleased him greatly, and he there asked his friends and his people,
saying, Whose daughter is that sitting amongst the women, whom I do not know in
this city?
9.
And they said unto him, Surely this
is the daughter of Jacob the son of Isaac the Hebrew, who has dwelt in this
city for some time, and when it was reported that the daughters of the land
were going forth to rejoice she went with her mother and maid servants to sit
amongst them as thou seest.
10.
And Shechem beheld Dinah the daughter
of Jacob, and when he looked at her his soul became fixed upon Dinah.
11.
And he sent and had her taken by
force, and Dinah came to the house of Shechem and he seized her forcibly and
lay with her and humbled her, and he loved her exceedingly and placed her in
his house.
12.
And they came and told the thing unto
Jacob, and when Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, Jacob
sent twelve of his servants to fetch Dinah from the house of Shechem, and they
went and came to the house of Shechem to take away Dinah from there.
13.
And when they came Shechem went out
to them with his men and drove them from his house, and he would not suffer
them to come before Dinah, but Shechem was sitting with Dinah kissing and
embracing her before their eyes.
14.
And the servants of Jacob came back
and told him, saying, When we came, he and his men drove us away, and thus did
Shechem do unto Dinah before our eyes.
15.
And Jacob knew moreover that Shechem
had defiled his daughter, but he said nothing, and his sons were feeding his
cattle in the field, and Jacob remained silent till their return.
16.
And before his sons came home Jacob
sent two maidens from his servants’ daughters to take care of Dinah in the
house of Shechem, and to remain with her, and Shechem sent three of his friends
to his father Hamor the son of Chiddekem, the son of Pered, saying, Get me this
damsel for a wife.
17.
And Hamor the son of Chiddekem the
Hivite came to the house of Shechem his son, and he sat before him, and Hamor
said unto his son, Shechem, Is there then no woman amongst the daughters of thy
people that thou wilt take an Hebrew woman who is not of thy people?
18.
And Shechem said to him, Her only
must thou get for me, for she is delightful in my sight; and Hamor did
according to the word of his son, for he was greatly beloved by him.
19.
And Hamor went forth to Jacob to
commune with him concerning this matter, and when he had gone from the house of
his son Shechem, before he came to Jacob to speak unto him, behold the sons of
Jacob had come from the field, as soon as they heard the thing that Shechem the
son of Hamor had done.
20.
And the men were very much grieved
concerning their sister, and they all came home fired with anger, before the
time of gathering in their cattle.
21.
And they came and sat before their
father and they spoke unto him kindled with wrath, saying, Surely death is due
to this man and to his household, because the Lord God of the whole earth
commanded Noah and his children that man shall never rob, nor commit adultery;
now behold Shechem has both ravaged and committed fornication with our sister,
and not one of all the people of the city spoke a word to him.
22.
Surely thou knowest and understandest
that the judgment of death is due to Shechem, and to his father, and to the
whole city on account of the thing which he has done.
23.
And whilst they were speaking before
their father in this matter, behold Hamor the father of Shechem came to speak
to Jacob the words of his son concerning Dinah, and he sat before Jacob and
before his sons.
24.
And Hamor spoke unto them, saying,
The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter; I pray you give her unto
him for a wife and intermarry with us; give us your daughters and we will give
you our daughters, and you shall dwell with us in our land and we will be as
one people in the land.
25.
For our land is very extensive, so
dwell ye and trade therein and get possessions in it, and do therein as you
desire, and no one shall prevent you by saying a word to you.
26.
And Hamor ceased speaking unto Jacob
and his sons, and behold Shechem his son had come after him, and he sat before
them.
27.
And Shechem spoke before Jacob and
his sons, saying, May I find favor in your sight that you will give me your
daughter, and whatever you say unto me that will I do for her.
28.
Ask me for abundance of dowry and
gift, and I will give it, and whatever you shall say unto me that will I do, and
whoever he be that will rebel against your orders, he shall die; only give me
the damsel for a wife.
29.
And Simeon and Levi answered Hamor
and Shechem his son deceitfully, saying, All you have spoken unto us we will do
for you.
30.
And behold our sister is in your
house, but keep away from her until we send to our father Isaac concerning this
matter, for we can do nothing without his consent.
31.
For he knoweth the ways of our father
Abraham, and whatever he sayeth unto us we will tell you, we will conceal
nothing from you.
32.
And Simeon and Levi spoke this unto
Shechem and his father in order to find a pretext, and to seek counsel what was
to be done to Shechem and to his city in this matter.
33.
And when Shechem and his father heard
the words of Simeon and Levi, it seemed good in their sight, and Shechem and
his father came forth to go home.
34.
And when they had gone, the sons of
Jacob said unto their father, saying, Behold, we know that death is due to
these wicked ones and to their city, because they transgressed that which God
had commanded unto Noah and his children and his seed after them.
35.
And also because Shechem did this
thing to our sister Dinah in defiling her, for such vileness shall never be
done amongst us.
36.
Now therefore know and see what you will
do, and seek counsel and pretext what is to be done to them, in order to kill
all the inhabitants of this city.
37.
And Simeon said to them, Here is a
proper advice for you: tell them to circumcise every male amongst them as we
are circumcised, and if they do not wish to do this, we shall take our daughter
from them and go away.
38.
And if they consent to do this and
will do it, then when they are sunk down with pain, we will attack them with
our swords, as upon one who is quiet and peaceable, and we will slay every male
person amongst them.
39.
And Simeon’s advice pleased them, and
Simeon and Levi resolved to do unto them as it was proposed.
40.
And on the next morning Shechem and
Hamor his father came again unto Jacob and his sons, to speak concerning Dinah,
and to hear what answer the sons of Jacob would give to their words.
41.
And the sons of Jacob spoke
deceitfully to them, saying, We told our father Isaac all your words, and your
words pleased him.
42.
But he spoke unto us, saying, Thus
did Abraham his father command him from God the Lord of the whole earth, that
any man who is not of his descendants that should wish to take one of his
daughters, shall cause every male belonging to him to be circumcised, as we are
circumcised, and then we may give him our daughter for a wife.
43.
Now we have made known to you all our
ways that our father spoke unto us, for we cannot do this of which you spoke
unto us, to give our daughter to an uncircumcised man, for it is a disgrace to
us.
44.
But herein will we consent to you, to
give you our daughter, and we will also take unto ourselves your daughters, and
will dwell amongst you and be one people as you have spoken, if you will
hearken to us, and consent to be like us, to circumcise every male belonging to
you, as we are circumcised.
45.
And if you will not hearken unto us,
to have every male circumcised as we are circumcised, as we have commanded,
then we will come to you, and take our daughter from you and go away.
46.
And Shechem and his father Hamor
heard the words of the sons of Jacob, and the thing pleased them exceedingly,
and Shechem and his father Hamor hastened to do the wishes of the sons of
Jacob, for Shechem was very fond of Dinah, and his soul was riveted to her.
47.
And Shechem and his father Hamor
hastened to the gate of the city, and they assembled all the men of their city
and spoke unto them the words of the sons of Jacob, saying,
48.
We came to these men, the sons of
Jacob, and we spoke unto them concerning their daughter, and these men will
consent to do according to our wishes, and behold our land is of great extent
for them, and they will dwell in it, and trade in it, and we shall be one
people; we will take their daughters, and our daughters we will give unto them
for wives.
49.
But only on this condition will these
men consent to do this thing, that every male amongst us be circumcised as they
are circumcised, as their God commanded them, and when we shall have done
according to their instructions to be circumcised, then will they dwell amongst
us, together with their cattle and possessions, and we shall be as one people
with them.
50.
And when all the men of the city
heard the words of Shechem and his father Hamor, then all the men of their city
were agreeable to this proposal, and they obeyed to be circumcised, for Shechem
and his father Hamor were greatly esteemed by them, being the princes of the
land.
51.
And on the next day, Shechem and
Hamor his father rose up early in the morning, and they assembled all the men
of their city into the middle of the city, and they called for the sons of
Jacob, who circumcised every male belonging to them on that day and the next.
52.
And they circumcised Shechem and
Hamor his father, and the five brothers of Shechem, and then every one rose up
and went home, for this thing was from the Lord against the city of Shechem, and
from the Lord was Simeon’s counsel in this matter, in order that the Lord might
deliver the city of Shechem into the hands of Jacob’s two sons.
