Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Genesis 34:9 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 9. 9And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Hamor proposes reciprocal intermarriage between Jacob's household and the people of Shechem. The offer expands one requested marriage into a long-term merger of families.
Read It With
- Genesis 34:1–12
Read verses 8–10. Verse 8 begins with Shechem's request for Dinah; verse 9 generalizes marriage exchange; verse 10 adds residence, trade, and landholding. Reading verse 9 alone can turn a crisis centered on sexual harm into an abstract debate about ethnicity.
Why This Verse Appears Here
One desired marriage expands into a proposed system of reciprocal intermarriage between the groups.
Read Genesis 34:8–10 together
Why these verses belong together: Hamor connects Shechem's desire with marriage, reciprocal intermarriage, residence, trade, and landholding.
Verse 8. 8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.
Verse 9. 9 And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.
Verse 10. 10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.
What Remains True
Group reconciliation cannot be built by ignoring an individual's violation or exchanging women as instruments of political peace.
How It Can Shape Life
- Evaluate institutional partnerships by whether they truthfully address harm and preserve each person's agency, not merely by the benefits promised to the groups.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Genesis 34:1–12 — Dinah Is Violated and Shechem Seeks MarriageSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? very strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed wording, unit boundary, Shechem transition, later family evaluation, legal echoes, and outrage-language parallels.
Exact location: Genesis 34:1–12 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 33:18–20; 34:13–31; 35:1–5; 49:5–7; Exodus 22:16–17; Deuteronomy 21:10–14; 22:23–29; Judges 19–20; and 2 Samuel 13
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Hebrew agency, syntax, lexical range, evaluative language, social negotiation, and economic terminology.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 34:1–12; forms and syntax for went out, see, took, lay with, humbled, clung, loved, spoke to her heart, defiled, held peace, grieved, angered, folly, desire, dwell, trade, possessions, favor, bride-price, and gift
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Translation comparison for the daughters of the land, took or seized, humiliated, tender speech, defiled, outrage, desire, residence, trade, bride-price, and gift.
Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 34 and translator notes on verses 1–12
Open NET Genesis 34 ↗