The circumcision of the Shechemites. Engraving by J. Muller (?).

Shechem had raped Dinah, daughter of Jacob and sister of Simeon and Levi. To make amends, Shechem's father, Hamor, had offered to marry Dinah and Shechem. The Jews agreed on condition that the Shechemites be circumcised. As the latter were recovering from the operation, Simeon and Levi stole into their city and slaughtered every one of them as retribution (Genesis 34). Jacob lamented this action to his grave (Genesis 49.5). In the print, a man behind the patient holds back the latter's arms; the engraver seems to have been unsure whether the patient is wearing a jerkin or not - his right arm is sleeved. The circumciser, dressed in an elaborate costume, holds the circumcised member in his right hand and a sickle-shaped blade in the other. On the paving to the left are the patient's clothes, hat and sword. To the right, a moustachioed man wearing a long hood is being helped away by a youth, his hand clutching his groin