Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
Parallel translations
- WEB Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” He lived with him for a month.
- KJV And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.
- NKJV And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.
- NASB And Laban said to him, “You certainly are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.
- NLT Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!” After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Laban acknowledges Jacob as his own flesh and blood, and Jacob stays a month with him.
Overview
Laban affirms their kinship with the phrase "my bone and my flesh," embracing Jacob as family. The month-long stay establishes Jacob within the household before any agreement about wages. This bond of kinship, however, will not prevent Laban from exploiting Jacob in the negotiations to come.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Sam 19:12–13You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?’
- Judg 9:2“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”
- Gen 2:23And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”
- 2 Sam 5:1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
- Gen 13:8So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers.
- Gen 29:15Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
- Mic 7:5Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
- Gen 29:12He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.
- Eph 5:30For we are members of His body.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 29:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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