Genesis 34:12
הַרְבּוּ עָלַי מְאֹד מֹהַר וּמַתָּן וְאֶתְּנָה כַּאֲשֶׁר תֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָי וּתְנוּ־לִי אֶת־הַֽנַּעֲרָ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
הַרְבּ֨וּ עָלַ֤י מְאֹד֙ מֹ֣הַר וּמַתָּ֔ן וְאֶ֨תְּנָ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר תֹּאמְר֖וּ אֵלָ֑י וּתְנוּ־לִ֥י אֶת־הַֽנַּעֲרָ֖ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃
πληθύνατε τὴν φερνὴν σφόδρα, καὶ δώσω καθότι ἂν εἴπητέ μοι, καὶ δώσετέ μοι τὴν παῖδα ταύτην εἰς γυναῖκα.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
augete dotem, et munera postulate, et libenter tribuam quod petieritis: tantum date mihi puellam hanc uxorem.
Fijen un precio alto por la dote y los regalos, y yo pagaré lo que me pidan; pero denme a la joven por esposa”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Aumentad á cargo mío mucho dote y dones, que yo daré cuanto me dijereis, y dadme la moza por mujer.
Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!” The Revenge of Dinah’s Brothers
✦ What the text says
Summary
Shechem asks Dinah's family to set the mohar ("bride price", H4119) and matan ("gift", H4976) as high as they wish, promising to pay whatever is demanded, provided the na'arah ("girl", H5291) is given to him as a wife. The verse is built around two paired imperatives directed at the brothers and one first-person statement of compliance from Shechem.
Key words
- har.Bu ("increase", H7235A) — hiphil (causative) imperative, plural "you all": Shechem is not merely asking for payment but commanding the family to raise the amount, placing the causative force of "make [it] great" on them.
- mohar ("a bride price", H4119) — masculine singular noun, the formal payment due to the bride's family.
- matan ("a gift", H4976) — masculine singular noun, joined to mohar by the conjunction u ("and", H9002), naming a second, distinct category of payment alongside the bride price.
- 'E.te.Nah ("let me give [it]", H5414G) — a form of the root natan ("to give"), here functioning with a first-person volitive sense ("I will give / let me give"), expressing Shechem's own commitment to pay.
- na'arah ("girl", H5291) — feminine singular noun with the definite article ha ("the", H9009), marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853) in tenu-li 'et-hanna'arah ("give to me the girl"), identifying the specific object of the request.
What the text says
The sentence opens with the imperative har.Bu 'alay me'od ("increase upon me greatly"), where the preposition 'al with the first-person suffix -i ("me", H9030) places the burden of the payment explicitly on Shechem himself — the increase is "upon me," not simply "to me." The two payment terms, mohar and matan, are joined without further specification, listing bride price and gift as separate categories the brothers may set.
The middle clause, ve'etenah ka'asher tomru 'elay ("and let me give as you all will say to me"), uses the imperfect tomru ("you will say", H0559) for the brothers' future demand, matched by Shechem's own commitment to give according to whatever that demand turns out to be. The final clause repeats the giving-root natan as the imperative tenu ("give", H5414G), now addressed back to the brothers, asking them to hand over the na'arah "to a wife" (le'ishah, H0802H) — the preposition le marking the resulting status rather than a direct object.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders mohar umatan ("bride price and gift") with a single term, φερνήν ("dowry"), and adds σφόδρα ("greatly") to match me'od, but does not preserve the two distinct Hebrew payment categories. The Vulgate keeps both, translating dotem ("dowry") and munera ("gifts") as separate items, closer to the Hebrew's mohar and matan pairing.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.