Bible dictionary

Rape

The act of a man forcing a woman to have sexual intercourse against her will. The Bible records two clear examples in the Old Testament:

  1. Shechem the son of Hamor, a Hivite, raped Dinah (see Genesis 34:2–7)

  2. The son of King David, Amnon, raped his sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:14)

In both examples, the brothers of the women took revenge for the rape of their sister.

See also Dinah; Tamar (Person) #2.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)The classic article on this subjectNave’s Topical Bible (1896)What the Bible says, point by point on this subject

Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary) from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. About the sources