Ask of me ever so much as marriage present: Ask of me is literally “Pile on me.” Shechem feels confident that he (supported by his father) can bear the weight of the demands that will be put on him by Dinah’s family. In the marriage negotiation there are two payments or exchanges to be made by the groom. Marriage present (Good News Translation “payment for the bride”) translates the Hebrew term that refers to the bride price that will be paid by the groom to the bride’s family. The bride price enables the transfer of the bride from her father’s household to that of the groom. According to Exo 22.16 if a man seduced a girl, he had to pay the bride price as a penalty and make her his legal wife. The marriage present is not money or property given to the bride by her husband or the husband’s family; it refers to money or property (goods, animals, land) that is passed from the groom (husband) to the father or family of the bride. Gift refers to the presents that will be presented to Dinah’s family. In 24.53 the same term refers to the gifts given by Abraham’s servant to Rebekah and to her mother and brother.

I will give according as you say to me: this repeats for emphasis what Shechem has already said in verse 11.

Some examples of the way this part of the verse may be translated are:
(1) “You can set the bride price and tell me what I have to give you. It doesn’t matter how much you ask, I will give it to you.”
(2) “Name a big buying amount [bride price] and a big present; I will give it to you, just as you say.”
(3) “You tell me what presents you want me to give you. And you can raise the bride price as high as you like. If you are happy for her to marry me, I will pay whatever price you set.”

Only give me the maiden to be my wife: only, which translates the Hebrew connective, is used in some English versions to express something equivalent to a condition: “I will give you as much as you ask for if you will give me the girl to be my wife.” In Revised Standard Version and a number of other versions, only serves to emphasize Shechem’s request at the end of his speech, with the sense of “This is the [only] thing I want.” For maiden see verse 3.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .