Genesis 34:6

Summary

The verse reports that Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob in order to speak with him. It is a brief narrative transition introducing a new action after the preceding events involving Shechem and Dinah.

Key words

• va-yetze ("and he went out", H3318) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking the next sequential event in the story; the subject is identified afterward.
• Chamor ("Hamor", H2544) — proper name, subject of the verb yetze, identifying who went out.
• avi ("father of", H0001) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking Hamor directly to Shechem as "father of Shechem."
• Sh'khem ("Shechem", H7927) — proper name, the person to whom Hamor is related as father; completes the construct phrase.
• le-dabber ("to speak", H1696) — piel infinitive with prefixed preposition le, expressing purpose ("in order to speak"); the piel stem carries an intensive or communicative nuance beyond a simple utterance.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows a standard narrative pattern: the verb va-yetze ("and he went out") opens the clause, followed by the subject Chamor, then a construct phrase avi-Shechem ("father of Shechem") that identifies him. The destination is marked by el-Ya'aqov ("to Jacob"), and the purpose clause closes the verse with le-dabber itto ("to speak with him"), using the preposition im ("with") plus the third-person suffix -o ("him"). This construct chain (avi-Shechem) tightly binds Hamor's identity to his son Shechem, presenting him primarily in relation to that role in this verse.

The infinitive le-dabber is in the piel stem, the same stem used elsewhere for verbs of speaking with some intensity or formality, though in this basic form it simply expresses the purpose of Hamor's movement — his going out is directed toward the act of speaking with Jacob. The verse contains no direct quotation; it only sets up the coming interaction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Chamor as Emmōr and Sh'khem as Suchem, transliterating the Hebrew names into Greek phonetic equivalents. The Vulgate uses an ablative absolute construction ("Egresso autem Hemor patre Sichem ut loqueretur ad Jacob"), restructuring the Hebrew's simple narrative sequence into a subordinate clause, which shifts the grammatical emphasis compared to the Hebrew's direct verb-first structure. The English (BSB) and Spanish (SBLIBRE) translations render va-yetze as "came" or "fue" ("went"), rather than more literally "went out," smoothing the directional nuance of the Hebrew verb.