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Genesis 34

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1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, to whom she gave·​·birth for Jacob, went·​·out to see the daughters of the land.

2 And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the chief of the land, saw her, and took her, and lay with her, and pressured her.

3 And his soul stuck to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke upon the heart of the damsel.

4 And Shechem said to Hamor his father, saying, Fetch me this girl for a woman.

5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field; and Jacob was·​·silent until they came.

6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went·​·out to Jacob to speak with him.

7 And the sons of Jacob came from the field as they heard it, and the men were grieved, and they were· very ·incensed, because he had done folly in Israel, in lying with Jacob’s daughter, and so it should not be done.

8 And Hamor spoke with them, saying, Shechem my son, his soul delights in your daughter; give her, I pray, to him for a woman.

9 And make·​·marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to you.

10 And you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you; dwell ye, and range through it trading, and have·​·possession in it.

11 And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what you say to me I will give.

12 Multiply on me exceedingly a dowry and a gift, and I will give as you say to me; and give me the damsel for a woman.

13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

14 And they said to them, We are· not ·able do this word, to give our sister to a man that has a foreskin, because this would be a reproach to us.

15 Surely in this will we consent to you, if you be as we to circumcise of you every male.

16 And we will give our daughters to you, and will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will be for one people.

17 And if you will not hearken to us to circumcise, then we will take our daughter and go.

18 And their words were·​·good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem the son of Hamor.

19 And the lad delayed not to do the word, for he delighted in the daughter of Jacob; and he was honored above all the house of his father.

20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke to the men of their city, saying,

21 These men are peaceable with us, and let them dwell in the land, and range through it trading, and behold the land is broad in spaces before them; let us take their daughters to us for women, and let us give our daughters to them.

22 Surely in this will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to be for one people, in every male being circumcised of us, as they are circumcised.

23 Their livestock, and what they had bought, and all their beast, will they not be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.

24 And they hearkened to Hamor and to Shechem his son, all who went·​·out of the gate of his city; and they circumcised every male, all who went·​·out of the gate of his city.

25 And it was, on the third day, when they were·​·in·​·pain, that the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah, took a man his sword, and came upon the city confidently, and killed every male.

26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son by the mouth of the sword, and took Dinah from the house of Shechem, and went·​·out.

27 The sons of Jacob came upon those who were slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

28 Their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and what was in the city, and what was in the field, they took;

29 and all their belongings, and all their infants, and their women, they took·​·captive and plundered, and all that was in the house.

30 And Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, You have troubled me, to make me stink among the dweller of the land, among the Canaanite and among the Perizzite; and I am as mortals in number*, and they will be gathered against me, and will smite me, and I shall be blotted·​·out, I and my house.

31 And they said, Shall he make our sister as a harlot?

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 4574

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4574. 'A nation and a company of nations will be from you' means good and Divine forms of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a nation' as the good of the Church, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 1362, 1416, 1849, and from the meaning of 'a company of nations' as truths which spring from good, or what amounts to the same, which are forms of good, and as - in the highest sense in which the Lord is the subject - Divine Truths which spring from Divine Good, which are Divine forms of Good.

[2] What forms of good are must be stated first, and after this the fact that 'a company of nations' means such forms. Truths which spring from good are called forms of good because they are nothing else than goods that have been given outward form. Anyone who conceives of truths in any other way, more so anyone who separates them from good, does not know what truths are. Truths do indeed seem to be separate from good and so seem to be forms that exist unconnected to anything else. Yet they seem to be so only to those who have no affection for what is good, that is, people whose thought and speech are at variance with what they will and therefore do. For the human being has been so created that his understanding and will may constitute a united mind; and they do constitute a united mind when the understanding acts in unison with the will, that is, when his thought and speech are in keeping with what he wills and therefore does, in which case also the thoughts in his understanding are the forms which give expression to his will. Thoughts present in the understanding are called truths, for truths belong properly to the understanding, whereas desires present in the will are called goods, for goods belong properly to the will. Consequently, regarded in itself that which exists in the understanding is nothing else than the form taken by that which exists in the will.

[3] But since the expression 'forms' smacks of human philosophy, let an example serve to show that truths are the forms taken by good: Two virtues of everyday life, public or private, are integrity and propriety. Integrity consists in the heartfelt desire for another person's good within everyday life, whereas propriety consists in the demonstration of that integrity in speech and gestures, so that regarded in itself propriety is nothing other than the form which integrity takes, for this is what gives rise to propriety. This being so, when integrity displays itself through propriety, that is, through proper and appropriate speech and gestures, integrity is seen in every aspect of proper behaviour. This is so much the case that everything uttered through speech or expressed through gestures is seen as integrity, for everything is a form or image by means of which integrity shines forth. Integrity and propriety accordingly go together like essence and its form, or what is essential and what is formal. But if anyone severs integrity from propriety - that is, if he bears ill-will towards his fellow man, yet speaks well of him and behaves well towards him - there is no longer any integrity at all in his words or actions, no matter how much he tries to present through propriety an outward form that looks like integrity. It is absence of integrity, and one who is clear-sighted calls it this, because it is either pretentious, fraudulent, or deceitful.

[4] From all this one may see what the situation is with truths and goods. Truths in spiritual life may be likened to propriety in everyday life, and good in spiritual life to integrity in everyday life. This comparison shows what truths are like when they are the forms assumed by good, and what they are like when severed from good. When they are not extensions from good, they are extensions from something bad and are forms assumed by this, no matter how much they may be spoken of as forms assumed by good. As regards 'a company of nations' meaning forms of good, this becomes clear from the meaning of 'nations' as goods, dealt with immediately above. Hence a company or assembly of them is a gathering together of them, which is nothing other than the form they receive; and this, as has been shown, is truth. Since truths are meant, yet 'a nation' means good, not only 'a nation'- it is said - will descend from him but also 'a company of nations'. Otherwise one of the expressions would be sufficient. Furthermore 'company', 'assembly', and 'multitude', when used in the Word, have reference to truths. For 'multitude' or 'being multiplied', see 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.