Bible Strands
Genesis 34:12
Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Shechem addresses Dinah’s father and brothers immediately after offering to fulfill any request they make. He proposes taking Dinah as his wife while instructing them to name their price.
The words — The Hebrew מֹהַר (mohar) designates a formal bride price, joined with וּ/מַתָּן (u-mattan), meaning a gift or present. These terms frame the marriage proposal as a structured economic negotiation rather than a unilateral claim.
The thread — This bride price mechanism aligns with Exodus 22:16, which requires payment for a seduced virgin, and Genesis 29:18, where Jacob negotiates service for Rachel. The transactional language also parallels the material gifts recorded in Genesis 24:53.
Why it lands — The text presents marriage as a culturally bound contract requiring explicit terms, asking the reader to track how economic arrangements underpin relational vows. It directs attention to the mechanics of negotiation before any assessment of the parties’ motives.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.
Cross-references
- Exodus 22:16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged in marriage and sleeps with her, he must pay the full dowry for her to be his wife.
- Genesis 24:53 Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.
- Genesis 29:18 Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
- Genesis 31:41 Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
- Deuteronomy 22:28 If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,
- 1 Samuel 18:25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
- 2 Samuel 3:14 Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, “Give me back my wife, Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”
- Matthew 14:17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
- Hosea 3:2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.