What Does Genesis 34:13 Mean in the King James?
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
A true grievance does not turn a deceitful answer into an honest one.
THE MEANING
The verse keeps Dinah’s violation in view while revealing that her brothers’ answer conceals its purpose. One real injury does not make the response transparent; the sentence holds both facts together without cancelling either. The same pattern appears wherever a true grievance and hidden intent occupy one exchange.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A justified grievance makes any response to it honest.
THE ROOT
בְּמִרְמָה
bəmirmāh
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
To deceive, beguile, or act treacherously.
“deceitfully” in this verse is bəmirmāh. English makes this sound like a manner of speaking, but the Hebrew phrase means “with deceit,” naming what the answer carries within it. The same root forms both a verb for deceiving and nouns for deceit, placing the hidden intent inside the brothers’ response.
ALSO GROWS
rāmāh: To deceive or beguile.
רָמָה
The verb names the action that the noun מִרְמָה (mirmāh, “deceit”) names as the quality of their answer.
remiyyāh: Deceit, treachery, or false dealing.
רְמִיָּה
This related noun shows the same root naming concealed intent as a recurring condition, not merely a single evasive phrase.
THE PATTERN
When speech conceals its purpose, it can become a tool for violence.
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.THE THREAD
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.“Subtilty” here is מִרְמָה (mirmāh, “deceit”), the same Hebrew word rendered “deceitfully” in Genesis 34:13. The repeated word makes deceit a recurring pattern in Jacob’s household, even as the injury at the center of this verse remains real.
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