Bible Strands
Genesis 34:4
So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Shechem addresses his father Hamor immediately after his affection for Dinah intensifies. He issues a direct command to secure the young woman as his wife.
The words — The imperative קַֽח (kach) translates literally as “get” or “take,” framing the request as a directive to acquire. The phrasing treats the woman as an object to be obtained rather than a person to be courted.
The thread — A son’s demand to his parents for a specific woman appears in Judges 14:2. Genesis 21:21 and 2 Samuel 13:13 are supplied but describe opposite family dynamics regarding marital procurement.
Why it lands — The text forces the reader to notice how desire is immediately channeled into a transactional command. It demands attention to the structural power imbalance that precedes the narrative’s violence.
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
And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
Cross-references
- Judges 14:2 So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
- Genesis 21:21 And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
- 2 Samuel 13:13 Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”