Verse

Genesis 34:16

ESV Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people.
NIV Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you.
NASB then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.
CSB Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people.
NLT then we will give you our daughters, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves. We will live among you and become one people.
KJV Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

What does Genesis 34:16 mean?

In the previous verse, Jacob's sons had given the one condition upon which they would allow Dinah's rapist Shechem to marry their sister (Genesis 34:1–12). Their stipulation is that every man in Shechem's community must be circumcised. The deception is that this will make Shechem's family acceptable to the sons of Jacob and the two people groups can then intermarry. However, that condition was given as part of a deceitful scheme hatched to take revenge on Shechem (Genesis 34:13).

During these negotiations, Shechem's father Hamor spoke of free trade and intermarriage between Jacob's people and his own. That diplomatic appeal was probably Hamor's recognition that a wealthy and powerful family like that was not one to make enemies with. If Jacob's people would freely intermarry with Shechem's people, they would soon became a single group. This, of course, was never an option for Israel (Genesis 24:1–4). Hamor and Shechem don't know this, and they're happy to get an agreement that seems to avoid bloodshed (Genesis 34:18).
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