Genesis 34:23

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 34:23 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.
Genesis 34:23 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 34

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
23Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Shall not their cattle, and their substance, and every beast of theirs, [be] ours? etc.] Which would in course come into their families in process of time, by intermarrying with them, or, being more numerous and powerful than they, could seize upon them when they pleased, and take all they had: thus they argue from the profit and advantage that would accrue to them by admitting them among them, upon their terms; and this argument, taken from worldly interest, they knew would have great influence upon them: only let us consent unto them; in the affair of circumcision: and they will dwell with us; and what by trading with them, and marrying among them, all their wealth and riches will come…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“- Dinah’s Dishonor This chapter records the rape of Dinah and the revenge of her brothers. Genesis 34:1-5 Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. The Jewish doctors of a later period fix the marriageable age of a female at twelve years and a day. It is probable that Dinah was in her thirteenth year when she went out to visit the daughters of the land. Six or seven years, therefore, must have been spent by Jacob between Sukkoth, where he abode some time, and the neighborhood of Shekerm, where he had purchased a piece of ground. If we suppose Dinah to have been born in the same year with Joseph, who was in his seventeenth year at the time of his being sold as a bondslave Genesis 37:2,…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification