9. This marriage will show we have a special agreement. Then our men can marry your women, and your men can marry our women.
10. You can live in the same land with us. You will be free to own the land and to trade here.”
11. Shechem also talked to Jacob and to Dinah’s brothers and said, “Please accept me. I will do anything you ask me to do.
12. I will give you any gift you want if you will only allow me to marry Dinah. I will give you anything you ask, but let me marry her.”
13. Jacob’s sons decided to lie to Shechem and his father because Shechem had done such a bad thing to their sister Dinah.
14. The brothers said to them, “We cannot allow our sister to marry you because you are not yet circumcised. That would bring us shame.
15. But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: Every man in your town must be circumcised like us.
16. Then your men can marry our women, and our men can marry your women. Then we will become one people.
17. If you refuse to be circumcised, we will take Dinah away.”
18. This agreement made Hamor and Shechem very happy.
19. Shechem was very happy to do what Dinah’s brothers asked. Shechem was the most honored man in his family.
20. Hamor and Shechem went to the meeting place of their city. They spoke to the men of the city and said,
21. “These people want to be friends with us. We want to let them live in our land and be at peace with us. We have enough land for all of us. We are free to marry their women, and we are happy to give them our women to marry.
22. But there is one thing that all our men must agree to do. They must agree to be circumcised as they are.
23. If we do this, we will become rich from all their cattle and other animals. We should make this agreement with them so that they will stay here with us.”
24. All the men who heard this in the meeting place agreed with Hamor and Shechem. And every man was circumcised at that time.
25. Three days later the men who were circumcised were still sore. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, knew that the men would be weak at this time. So they went to the city and killed all the men there.