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Genesis 34:22

in Genesis 34

But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Only on this condition will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

KJV

Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

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This verse in Genesis 34

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

went to the gate of their city

on Genesis 34:20-23

The gate is where a city's public business was done, and the speech made there never mentions Dinah. Hamor and Shechem sell the plan on profit, that the livestock and possessions and animals of these men will become the city's. Wesley reads it as a good return promised to neighbors.

This site's exposition

only on this condition will the men agree

The verb for agree is the rare Hebrew ut, to consent, found in verses 15, 22 and 23 and elsewhere only at 2 Kings 12:8. Hamor gives the brothers' condition to the city almost word for word. At the gate the covenant sign becomes a term of trade.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Only herein will the men consent unto us,.... The only term or condition insisted upon, to come into an alliance and affinity with us, and for to dwell with us, to be one people, to become one body politic, is the following one: if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised; submitting to this rite, they agree to take up their residence with us, and be incorporated among us, and become one people.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אַךְ־only

    ʾakh-H389 →161 times

  • בְּ֠זֹאתin this

    bezotH2063 →603 times

  • יֵאֹ֨תוּthey will agree

    yeotuH225 →4 times

  • לָ֤נוּto <the> us

    lanu

  • הָאֲנָשִׁים֙the men

    haanashimH582 →566 times

  • לָשֶׁ֣בֶתto dwell

    lashevetH3427 →1079 times

  • אִתָּ֔נוּwith us

    ʾitanuH854 →929 times

  • לִהְי֖וֹתto become

    lihyotH1961 →3559 times

  • לְעַ֣ם<into> a people

    leamH5971 →1873 times

  • אֶחָ֑דone

    ʾechadH259 →971 times

  • בְּהִמּ֥וֹלwhen has been circumcised

    behimolH4135 →37 times

  • לָ֙נוּ֙of us

    lanu

  • כָּל־every

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • זָכָ֔רmale

    zakharH2145 →82 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֖רjust as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • הֵ֥םthey

    hemH1992 →553 times

  • נִמֹּלִֽים׃[are] circumcised

    nimolimH4135 →37 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 34 →

This page draws on Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 34 →