What Does Genesis 34:11 Mean?
And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me, I will give.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.THE KEY
The plea for favor becomes a bargain with Dinah’s family, while Dinah herself is not addressed.
THE MEANING
A request for favor can come from the one who caused harm, directed to people with power to answer for the person harmed. Shechem offers whatever Dinah’s father and brothers name, leaving the terms open while Dinah is not addressed.
THE ROOT
חֵן
chen
GROWS FROM
חנן
The verb חָנַן (chanan) means to show favor or extend gracious regard; חֵן (chen) is favor received in another’s regard.
English “grace” can sound like a quality held by the giver, but חֵן (chen, favor) here is something Shechem hopes to find in the family’s eyes. His request makes that favor part of a negotiation over what they will require.
ALSO GROWS
chanan: To show favor or treat graciously.
חָנַן
The verb behind the noun shows that favor is an act of regard extended from one person to another.
ḥannun: Gracious; one who shows favor.
חַנּוּן
This related form names the quality of the one extending favor, while the verse focuses on Shechem asking to receive it.
אֶתֵּן
’etten
GROWS FROM
נתן
נָתַן (natan) means to give, set, or place.
“I will give” in this verse is ’etten. The promise is not a set payment: Shechem says he will give whatever they name. The root’s range of giving and placing makes the offer sound like handing over whatever is demanded, leaving the recipients to define its form.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: A gift or present.
מַתָּן
This noun shows the same root’s giving as something handed over.
mattanah: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
The offer in the verse can become a gift or payment whose terms are set by the family.
THE PATTERN
Favor is sought in another’s regard, and the response can change what the petitioner receives or is entrusted with.
And Joseph found favor in his eyes, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he placed into his hand.Then she said, Let me find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me, and you have spoken upon the heart of your handmaid, though I am not like one of your handmaids.And the messenger said to her, Do not be seized by awe, Mary, for you have found favor with God.THE THREAD
And Joseph found favor in his eyes, and he served him; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he placed into his hand.Genesis 39:4 uses the same Hebrew word for favor, then describes what is placed into Joseph’s hand. The shared roots bring the request for favor and the act of giving into view together, making Shechem’s open-ended offer part of the verse’s central tension.
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