Between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim · Today: Tell Balata, near Nablus
Shechem in the Bible
Shechem is Abraham's first stop in Canaan and the place where Joshua gathers Israel to renew the covenant. The northern tribes reject Rehoboam here, and Jacob's well nearby is where Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman.
Archaeology
Tell Balata preserves a massive Middle Bronze fortress temple and city gate, matching the scale of the 'house of Baal-berith' mentioned in Judges.
Verses mentioning Shechem
66 occurrences across 56 verses in the King James Version.
- Genesis 33:18
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. Shechem: Gr. Sychem
Read in context - Genesis 33:19
And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. Hamor: Gr. Emmor pieces: or, lambs
Read in context - Genesis 34:2
And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. defiled: Heb. humbled her
Read in context - Genesis 34:4
And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
Read in context - Genesis 34:6
And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.
Read in context - Genesis 34:8
And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.
Read in context - Genesis 34:11
And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
Read in context - Genesis 34:13
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:
Read in context - Genesis 34:18
And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son.
Read in context - Genesis 34:20
And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,
Read in context - Genesis 34:24
And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.
Read in context - Genesis 34:26
And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. edge: Heb. mouth
Read in context - Genesis 35:4
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Read in context - Genesis 37:12
And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
Read in context - Genesis 37:13
And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
Read in context - Genesis 37:14
And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. see: Heb. see the peace of thy brethren, etc.
Read in context - Numbers 26:31
And of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites: and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites:
Read in context - Joshua 17:2
There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph by their families.
Read in context - Joshua 17:7
And the coast of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, that lieth before Shechem; and the border went along on the right hand unto the inhabitants of Entappuah.
Read in context - Joshua 20:7
And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. appointed: Heb. sanctified
Read in context - Joshua 21:21
For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs,
Read in context - Joshua 24:1
And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
Read in context - Joshua 24:25
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Read in context - Joshua 24:32
And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. pieces: or, lambs
Read in context - Judges 8:31
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. called: Heb. set
Read in context