If you remember at this time, Jacob/Israel had twelve children: eleven sons and one daughter from Leah named Dinah. A son of Hamor, a Hivite named Shechem, saw her, assaulted her and kidnapped her. He went to his father and asked him to make her his wife. 

Jacob and his sons heard that she had been defiled, but Jacob didn’t react. Hamor came to Jacob to negotiate a marriage contract for Shechem, but the sons were angry and devised their own plan. They went and told the young men of the region that their women couldn’t marry uncircumcised men. If the men became circumcised, then they could marry across lines of kinship and religion. The Hivites were eager to marry in and gain access to their livestock and land. 

The men of the city circumcised themselves, but they were tricked. The sons of Jacob had no intention of allowing the Hivites to marry their women. On the third day while the men were “sore,” the Simeon and Levi raided their city killing all the men and freeing their sister. Additionally, they plundered the town taking all their livestock. 

Jacob is upset with his sons because their family was outnumbered by the other tribes in the area. They ask him if they should let their sister be treated like a prostitute. 

The treatment of women in the Old Testament has been discussed as if everyone was okay with women traded like slaves and cattle, but you can see here that not everyone agreed with it. Did the brothers go overboard in their vengeance plan? Yes. Does it feel satisfying to do revenge? Also yes. Are the Israelites now doomed to fight all their neighbors forever? Stay tuned.