Laban (son of Bethuel)
라반 (브두엘의 아들)
Son of Bethuel, brother of Rebekah, and father of Leah and Rachel.
Direct relationships 17
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Source-backed narrative relations; not independent historical verification. Legacy dates and coordinates are outside this review.
Collection & rightsSource evidence (15)
AI-assisted comparison with the cited narrative; not independent historical verification.
- GEN 24:28–49, engwebp
28The young lady ran, and told her mother’s house about these words.
29Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.
30When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31He said, “Come in, you blessed of the LORD. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.”
32The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.” Laban said, “Speak on.”
34He said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
35The LORD has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. The LORD has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
36Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him.
37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
38but you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
39I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’
40He said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my relatives, and of my father’s house.
41Then you will be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don’t give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.’
42I came today to the spring, and said, ‘The LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go—
43behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,”
44then she tells me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’
45Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink.
47I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands.
48I bowed my head, and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son.
49Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”
- GEN 24:50–61, engwebp
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from the LORD. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
51Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the LORD has spoken.”
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to the LORD.
53The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother.
54They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”
55Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go.”
56He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
57They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.”
58They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”
59They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men.
60They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”
61Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
- GEN 27:41–46, engwebp
41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away—
45until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”
- GEN 28:1–4, engwebp
1Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
2Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
3May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
4and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”
- GEN 28:5, engwebp
5Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
- GEN 29:1–15, engwebp
1Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.
2He looked, and saw a well in the field, and saw three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well’s mouth was large.
3There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone back on the well’s mouth in its place.
4Jacob said to them, “My relatives, where are you from?” They said, “We are from Haran.”
5He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.”
6He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.”
7He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”
8They said, “We can’t, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well’s mouth. Then we will water the sheep.”
9While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.
10When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.
12Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.
13When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.
14Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.
15Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?”
- GEN 29:16, engwebp
16Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
- GEN 29:17–22, engwebp
17Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive.
18Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”
19Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”
20Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.
21Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”
22Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
- GEN 29:29–30, engwebp
29Laban gave Bilhah, his servant, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.
30He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him seven more years.
- GEN 30:25–36, engwebp
25When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.
26Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.”
27Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.”
28He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.”
29Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.
30For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. The LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?”
31Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
32I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.
33So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be considered stolen.”
34Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.”
35That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
36He set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
- GEN 30:37–43, engwebp
37Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, and plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.
39The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in Laban’s flock. He put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban’s flock.
41Whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, Jacob laid the rods in front of the eyes of the flock in the watering troughs, that they might conceive among the rods;
42but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
43The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
- GEN 31:1–16, engwebp
1Jacob heard Laban’s sons’ words, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.”
2Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.
3The LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,
5and said to them, “I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.
6You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.
7Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me.
8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked.
9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.
10During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.
11The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
12He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.
13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”
14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.
16For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”
- GEN 31:17–43, engwebp
17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,
18and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.
19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
20Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away.
21So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
22Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.
23He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
24God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.
26Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;
28and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.
29It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’
30Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”
31Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’
32Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them.
33Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.
34Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them.
35She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim.
36Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?
37Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.
38“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.
39That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
42Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
43Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine! What can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?
- GEN 31:44–49, engwebp
44Now come, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be for a witness between me and you.”
45Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
46Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.
47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed
49and Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.
- GEN 31:50–55, engwebp
50If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”
51Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.
52May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.
54Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.
55Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.
AI-assisted, human review pending, 2026-09-20
Machine comparison on 2026-10-07: the wording raised none of the 3 rules against the passages this entry cites. No person has read it.
All 17 relationships: AI-assisted, human review pending
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Bethuel (son of Milcah) — Father of — Laban (son of Bethuel)
Evidence: Genesis 28:5
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Laban (son of Bethuel) — Sibling of — Rebekah
Evidence: Genesis 24:28–49, Genesis 28:5
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Laban (son of Bethuel) — Father of — Rachel
Evidence: Genesis 29:1–15, Genesis 29:16
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Laban (son of Bethuel) — Father of — Leah
Evidence: Genesis 29:16
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Appears in the narrated event (13) — In the house, the servant tells his errand to Laban, Rebekah is given leave and sets out, Esau’s grudge, and the word to flee to Laban in Haran, The charge to go to Paddan Aram and take a wife there, Meeting Rachel at the well, and coming to Laban’s house, Serving seven years for Rachel, Bilhah given to Rachel, and another seven years served, Jacob and Laban settle the wages, The peeled rods set before the flocks, The word to return, and the answer of Rachel and Leah, Jacob flees and Laban overtakes him at Mount Gilead, Jacob and Laban make a covenant, The heap and the pillar set as a witness, and the parting
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Verses tagged with this entry
Names in the World English Bible text that carry this entry’s tag. They are carried over from the tags on the Korean Revised Version, which are matched by name inside chapters that already have collected evidence, and a verse where the English says “he” carries none. All await human review. They are a separate list from the source passages above. An empty list does not mean the entry is absent from the text.
Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.
Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.” Laban said, “Speak on.”
Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from the LORD. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.”
When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.
Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.
Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?”
Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”
Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”
Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
Laban gave Zilpah his servant to his daughter Leah for a servant.
In the morning, behold, it was Leah! He said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”
Laban said, “It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.
Laban gave Bilhah, his servant, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.
When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.
Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.”
Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.”
He set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in Laban’s flock. He put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban’s flock.
but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
Jacob heard Laban’s sons’ words, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.”
Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.
He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.
Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away.
Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.
God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.
Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?
Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’
Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.
Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them.
Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?
Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine! What can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?
Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed
Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.
Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.
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[Bibliadatum entry report] Entry: Laban (son of Bethuel) (person-laban) Address: https://bibliadatum.org/en/wiki/person/laban Current wording: Son of Bethuel, brother of Rebekah, and father of Leah and Rachel. Cited evidence: GEN 24:28–49, engwebp / GEN 24:50–61, engwebp / GEN 27:41–46, engwebp / GEN 28:1–4, engwebp / GEN 28:5, engwebp / GEN 29:1–15, engwebp / GEN 29:16, engwebp / GEN 29:17–22, engwebp (and 7 more of 15) Review state: ai-assisted / human-review-pending What looks wrong: (not written yet) --- This collection records what the text says and does not settle interpretation. A report about a reading that divides opinion may be registered as an unresolved issue rather than corrected.