17 But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go."
17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.
17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone."
17 But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave."
17 But if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone."
17 But if you don't agree to be circumcised, we will take her and be on our way."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 34:17
Commentary on Genesis 34:1-19
(Read Genesis 34:1-19)
Young persons, especially females, are never so safe and well off as under the care of pious parents. Their own ignorance, and the flattery and artifices of designing, wicked people, who are ever laying snares for them, expose them to great danger. They are their own enemies if they desire to go abroad, especially alone, among strangers to true religion. Those parents are very wrong who do not hinder their children from needlessly exposing themselves to danger. Indulged children, like Dinah, often become a grief and shame to their families. Her pretence was, to see the daughters of the land, to see how they dressed, and how they danced, and what was fashionable among them; she went to see, yet that was not all, she went to be seen too. She went to get acquaintance with the Canaanites, and to learn their ways. See what came of Dinah's gadding. The beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water. How great a matter does a little fire kindle! We should carefully avoid all occasions of sin and approaches to it.