Laban

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring.

“Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” said Laban. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.”

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.

…and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.

“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked. “We know him,” they replied.

As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.

Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.

Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”

Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”

So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast.

But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.

When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older.

And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.

Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.

But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

“What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks.

“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.

But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.

On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.

But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well.

Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!

So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.

Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.

Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me?

But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?

Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.

It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.

Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.

He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now.

These are the sons of Jacob born to Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.

These are the sons of Jacob born to Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.

These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—in the Arabah opposite Suph—between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.