Dinah ravished, 1-3. Slaughter of the Shechemites, 4-6. Laws against intermarriage between
Israel and the heathen, 7-17. Levi chosen for the priesthood on account of his slaughter of the
Shechemites, 18-23. Dinah recovered, 24. Jacob's reproof, 25-6. (Cf. Gen. xxxiii.18, xxxiv.2,
4, 7, 13-14, 25-30, xxxv.5.)
[Chapter 30]
- And in the first year of the sixth week [2143 A.M.] he went up to Salem, to the east of
Shechem, in peace, in
the fourth month.
- And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the
house of Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and
defiled her,
and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years.
- And he besought his father and her
brothers that she might be given to him to wife. And Jacob and his sons were wroth because of
the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spake to them with evil
intent and dealt
deceitfully with them and beguiled them.
- And Simeon and Levi came unexpectedly to
Shechem and executed judgment on all the men of Shechem, and slew all the men whom they
found in it, and left not a single one remaining in it: they slew all in torments because they had
dishonoured
their sister Dinah.
- And thus let it not again be done from henceforth that a daughter of
Israel be defiled; for judgment is ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy with
the sword
all the men of the Shechemites because they had wrought shame in Israel.
- And the Lord
delivered them into the hands of the sons of Jacob that they might exterminate them with the
sword and execute judgment upon them, and that it might not thus again be done in Israel that a
virgin of
Israel should be defiled.
- And if there is any man who wishes in Israel to give his
daughter or his sister to any man who is of the seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they
shall stone him with stones; for he hath wrought shame in Israel; and they shall burn the woman
with fire, because
she has dishonoured the name of the house of her father, and she shall be rooted out of
Israel.
- And let not an adulteress and no uncleanness be found in Israel throughout all the days of
the generations of the earth; for Israel is holy unto the Lord, and every man who has defiled (it)
shall surely die:
they shall stone him with stones.
- For thus has it been ordained and written in the
heavenly tablets regarding all the seed of Israel: he who defileth (it) shall surely die, and he shall
be stoned with
stones.
- And to this law there is no limit of days, and no remission, nor any atonement:
but the man who has defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the midst of all Israel, because he
has given
of his seed to Moloch, and wrought impiously so as to defile it.
- And do thou, Moses,
command the children of Israel and exhort them not to give their daughters to the Gentiles, and
not to take for
their sons any of the daughters of the Gentiles, for this is abominable before the Lord.
- For this reason I have written for thee in the words of the Law all the deeds of the Shechemites,
which they wrought against Dinah, and how the sons of Jacob spake, saying: 'We will not give
our daughter
to a man who is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us.'
- And it is a reproach
to Israel, to those who live, and to those that take the daughters of the Gentiles; for this is unclean
and
abominable to Israel.
- And Israel will not be free from this uncleanness if it has a wife
of the daughters of the Gentiles, or has given any of its daughters to a man who is of any of the
Gentiles.
- For there will be plague upon plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment and
plague and curse will come upon him: if he do this thing, or hide his eyes from those who
commit uncleanness, or those who defile the sanctuary of the Lord, or those who profane His holy
name, (then) will the
whole nation together be judged for all the uncleanness and profanation of this man.
- And there will be no respect of persons [and no consideration of persons] and no receiving at his
hands of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of sweet savour, so as
to accept it: and
so fare every man or woman in Israel who defiles the sanctuary.
- For this reason I have
commanded thee, saying: 'Testify this testimony to Israel: see how the Shechemites fared and
their sons: how they were delivered into the hands of two sons of Jacob, and they slew them
under tortures, and it
was (reckoned) unto them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for
righteousness.
- And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that they
might minister before the Lord, as we, continually, and that Levi and his sons may be blessed for
ever; for he was zealous
to execute righteousness and judgment and vengeance on all those who arose against
Israel.
- And so they inscribe as a testimony in his favour on the heavenly tablets blessing and
righteousness before
the God of all:
- And we remember the righteousness which the man fulfilled during his
life, at all periods of the year; until a thousand generations they will record it, and it will come to
him and to his descendants after him, and he has been recorded on the heavenly tablets as a friend
and a righteous
man.
- All this account I have written for thee, and have commanded thee to say to the
children of Israel, that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances nor break the
covenant which
has been ordained for them, (but) that they should fulfil it and be recorded as friends.
- But if they transgress and work uncleanness in every way, they will be recorded on the heavenly
tablets as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the book of life, and they will be recorded
in the book of
those who will be destroyed and with those who will be rooted out of the earth.
- And
on the day when the sons of Jacob slew Shechem a writing was recorded in their favour in heaven
that they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the sinners, and it was
written for a blessing.
- And they brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem, and they took
captive everything that was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their asses, and all their
wealth, and all their
flocks, and brought them all to Jacob their father.
- And he reproached them because
they had put the city to the sword for he feared those who dwelt in the land, the Canaanites and
the Perizzites.
- And the dread of the Lord was upon all the cities which are around about Shechem,
and they did not rise to pursue after the sons of Jacob; for terror had fallen upon them.
Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 |
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 |
38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 |
44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 |
50
From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College