Genesis 34:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone."

World English Bible · Public Domain

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לְהִמּ֑וֹל

mûwl

H4135

“to circumcise”

Preposition + Verb, Niphal, Infinitive Construct

Appears 36× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 17:10

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1161

to circumcise, let oneself be circumcised, cut, be cut off - (Qal) to circumcise - (Niphal) to be circumcised, circumcise oneself - (Hiphil) to cause to be circumcised - of destruction (figuratively) - (Hithpolel) to be cut off - (Polel) cut down

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לְהִמּ֑וֹל to circumcise H4135 occurs in 32 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
1 noun
1 preposition
1 conjunction
2 particles

Verb forms

תִשְׁמְע֛וּ Qal · Imperfect
לְהִמּ֑וֹל Niphal · Infinitive Construct
וְלָקַ֥חְנוּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְהָלָֽכְנוּ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 18 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 34:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאִם לֹ֧א תִשְׁמְע֛וּ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ לְהִמּ֑וֹל וְלָקַ֥חְנוּ אֶת בִּתֵּ֖נוּ וְהָלָֽכְנוּ

But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone."

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 34:17 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐάν δέ μή εἰςἀκούω ἐγώ ὁ περιτέμνω λαμβάνω ὁ θυγάτηρ ἐγώ ἀποἔρχομαι

But if you⌃ will not listen to us to be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִם לָא תְקַבְּלוּן מִנָּנָא לְמִגְזָר וּנְדַבֵּר יָת בְּרַתָּנָא וְנֵזֵיל

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִין לָא תְקַבְּלוּן מִנָנָא לְמִגְזַר וְנִסַב בְּתוֹקְפָא יַת בְּרַתָּנָא וְנֵזֵיל

But if you will not hearken to us to be circumcised, we will take our daughter by force and will go.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 34:17 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Gen 34:17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

Ver. 17. But if ye will not hearken.] How often have men found treason in trust, and murder under show of marriage! as in 1Sa 18:17; 1Sa 18:25 Dan 11:17, and in the massacre of Paris.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 17. Then will we take our daughter, and we will he gone.] It is natural to suppose that the tribe of Hamor was very inconsiderable, else they would not have sought an alliance with the family of Jacob, and have come so readily into a painful, disgraceful measure, without having either the sanction of Divine authority or reason; for it does not appear that the sons of Jacob urged either. And they are threatened here that if they do not agree to be circumcised, Dinah shall be taken from them, and restored to her family; and this is probably what the Shechemites saw they had not power at present to prevent.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Gill's Exposition

But if ye will not hearken to us to be circumcised,.... Will not agree to this condition, circumcision:

then will we take our daughter; by force, as the Targum of Jonathan adds:

and we will be gone: depart from this part of the country, and go elsewhere.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Our daughter, the only one of our father; who, it would hence appear, was detained by Hemor, ver. 26. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Radak

Rabbi David Kimhi (Radak)

ואם לא...בתנו, as we explained on 34,9

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mûwl (“to circumcise”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to circumcise” (mûwl) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Genesis 17:10, which shares the word «to circumcise», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«תִשְׁמְע֛וּ» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.