Genesis 34:25
וַיְהִי בַיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי בִּֽהְיוֹתָם כֹּֽאֲבִים וַיִּקְחוּ שְׁנֵֽי־בְנֵי־יַעֲקֹב שִׁמְעוֹן וְלֵוִי אֲחֵי דִינָה אִישׁ חַרְבּוֹ וַיָּבֹאוּ עַל־הָעִיר בֶּטַח וַיַּֽהַרְגוּ כָּל־זָכָֽר׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיְהִי֩ בַיּ֨וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֜י בִּֽהְיוֹתָ֣ם כֹּֽאֲבִ֗ים וַיִּקְח֣וּ שְׁנֵֽי־בְנֵי־יַ֠עֲקֹב שִׁמְע֨וֹן וְלֵוִ֜י אֲחֵ֤י דִינָה֙ אִ֣ישׁ חַרְבּ֔וֹ וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ עַל־הָעִ֖יר בֶּ֑טַח וַיַּֽהַרְג֖וּ כָּל־זָכָֽר׃
ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῆ ἡμέρᾳ τῆ τρίτη ὅτε ἦσαν ἐν τῷ πόνῳ, ἔλαβον οἱ δύο υἱοὶ Ἰακὼβ Συμεὼν καὶ Λευί, ἀδελφοὶ Δεῖνας, ἕκαστος τὴν μάχαιραν αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀσφαλῶς καὶ ἀπέκτειναν πᾶν
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et ecce, die tertio, quando gravissimus vulnerum dolor est: arreptis duo filii Jacob, Simeon et Levi fratres Dinæ, gladiis, ingressi sunt urbem confidenter: interfectisque omnibus masculis,
Al tercer día, cuando más les dolía la herida, Simeón y Leví, que eran dos de los hijos de Jacob y hermanos de Dina, tomaron cada uno su espada, entraron a la ciudad sin que nadie lo sospechara y mataron a todos los varones.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y sucedió que al tercer día, cuando sentían ellos el mayor dolor, los dos hijos de Jacob, Simeón y Leví, hermanos de Dina, tomaron cada uno su espada, y vinieron contra la ciudad animosamente, y mataron á todo varón.
Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob ’s sons ( Dinah ’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates that on the third day after circumcision, while the men of Shechem were still in pain, two sons of Jacob — Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah — each took his sword, entered the city while it was unsuspecting, and killed every male.
Key words
- koavim ("in pain", H3510) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing an ongoing state ("were being in-pain") rather than a completed action, tied to the temporal infinitive construction before it.
- b'heyotam (H1961) — infinitive construct with 3mp suffix ("in their being"), forming with koavim the phrase "while they were in pain," marking simultaneity with the main narrative action.
- sh'nei-vnei-Ya'aqov ("two of the sons of Jacob", H8147 + H1121A) — construct chain: "two of" governs "sons of," which governs "Jacob," building a nested possessive structure identifying Simeon and Levi as a subset of Jacob's sons.
- ish charbo ("each his sword", H0376I + H2719) — ish used distributively ("each one"), paired with cherev + possessive suffix "his," indicating that each of the two men acted individually with his own weapon.
- betach ("security", H0983) — noun used adverbially, modifying how they entered the city: "in security," i.e., the city was unsuspecting/unguarded.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative formula vayehi ("and it was", H1961) marking a new episode, followed by a temporal clause: "on the third day, b'heyotam koavim" — literally "in their being ones-in-pain." This construction (infinitive + participle) presents the pain as a background state overlapping with the main events that follow, rather than as a discrete prior event.
The main clause introduces the subjects through a layered construct chain: sh'nei-vnei-Ya'aqov, "two of the sons of Jacob," then apposition naming them, Shim'on v'Levi, and further apposition identifying them as achei Dinah, "brothers of Dinah" (construct of H0251G). This chain narrows the identification from a general category (sons of Jacob) to specific individuals defined by their relation to Dinah.
The phrase ish charbo, "each his sword," uses ish (H0376I) distributively rather than as "a man," signaling that the action (taking the sword) was performed individually by each of the two, not jointly with one weapon. The three consecutive narrative verbs — vayikchu ("they took", H3947G), vayavo'u ("they went/entered", H0935G), vayaharegu ("they killed", H2026) — form a chain of sequential wayyiqtol forms typical of Hebrew narrative, presenting the taking, entering, and killing as a rapid sequence of consecutive actions. The adverbial betach ("in security", H0983) qualifies the manner of entry, describing the city's condition as unguarded/unsuspecting at the moment they came in.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders sh'nei-vnei-Ya'aqov as "οἱ δύο υἱοὶ Ἰακὼβ" ("the two sons of Jacob"), adding the definite article not present in the Hebrew construct form. The Vulgate's "arreptis... gladiis" ("swords having been seized") shifts the distributive ish charbo ("each his sword") into a collective ablative absolute construction, not preserving the individualized emphasis of the Hebrew ish.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.