Genesis 34:26
וְאֶת־חֲמוֹר וְאֶת־שְׁכֶם בְּנוֹ הָרְגוּ לְפִי־חָרֶב וַיִּקְחוּ אֶת־דִּינָה מִבֵּית שְׁכֶם וַיֵּצֵֽאוּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאֶת־חֲמוֹר֙ וְאֶת־שְׁכֶ֣ם בְּנ֔וֹ הָרְג֖וּ לְפִי־חָ֑רֶב וַיִּקְח֧וּ אֶת־דִּינָ֛ה מִבֵּ֥ית שְׁכֶ֖ם וַיֵּצֵֽאוּ׃
τόν τε Ἐμμὼρ καὶ τὸν Συχὲμ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπέκτειναν ἐν στόματι μαχαίρας, καὶ ἔλαβον τὴν Δεινὰ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Συχέμ, καὶ ἐξῆλθον.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Hemor et Sichem pariter necaverunt, tollentes Dinam de domo Sichem sororem suam.
Mataron a filo de espada a Jamor y a su hijo Siquén, sacaron a Dina de la casa de Siquén, y se fueron.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y á Hamor y á Sichêm su hijo los mataron á filo de espada: y tomaron á Dina de casa de Sichêm, y saliéronse.
They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem ’s house, and went away.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates the aftermath of the attack on Shechem's household: Simeon and Levi (the unnamed subject continuing from the prior verses) kill Hamor and his son Shechem "by the mouth of the sword," then take Dinah out of Shechem's house and depart.
Key words
- chArev ("sword", H2719) — feminine singular noun, object of the idiomatic preposition phrase describing the manner of killing.
- fi ("mouth of", H6310G) — construct form of "mouth," paired with chArev to form the idiom lefi-cherev, literally "to/by the mouth of the sword," a standard Hebrew expression for death by the blade.
- harGu ("they slew", H2026) — Qal perfect, third person plural, marking a completed action; it reports the killing as a finished event before the narrative continues.
- yikChu ("they took", H3947G) and yetze'u ("they went out", H3318G) — both Qal narrative (vav-consecutive imperfect) forms, the standard verb chain for sequential storytelling in Biblical Hebrew ("and then... and then...").
- beNo ("his son", H1121A + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, identifying Shechem as Hamor's son within the same clause that names both victims.
What the text says
The sentence opens by fronting the two objects of the killing — Chamor ("Hamor", H2544) and Shechem ("Shechem", H7927H) beNo ("his son") — before the verb harGu ("they slew") appears. This word order places emphasis on who was killed rather than on the act itself, a common feature of Hebrew clauses that highlight a preceding topic. The killing is then qualified by the idiom lefi-cherev ("by the mouth of the sword"), using the noun fi ("mouth of") in construct with chArev ("sword") — an idiomatic way of specifying the sword's edge as the instrument of death, not a reference to a literal mouth.
The narrative then shifts to two consecutive verbs, wayyikChu ("and they took") and wayyetze'u ("and they went out"), both connected by the narrative vav that chains sequential events in Hebrew storytelling. These describe the removal of Dinah ("Dinah", H1783) mi-beit Shechem ("from the house of Shechem") and the group's subsequent departure, closing the episode with two brief, rapid actions typical of Hebrew narrative pacing.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders lefi-cherev as "ἐν στόματι μαχαίρας" ("in the mouth of the sword"), preserving the Hebrew idiom closely. The Vulgate, however, omits this idiom entirely, using only "necaverunt" ("they killed") without specifying the sword. The Vulgate also adds "sororem suam" ("his sister"), a clarifying phrase not present in the Hebrew or the LXX at this verse, and it lacks an equivalent to the final Hebrew clause wayyetze'u ("and they went out"), ending instead on the removal of Dinah from the house.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.