Easton's Bible Dictionary White. (1.) The son of Bethuel, who was the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother. He lived at Haran in Mesopotamia. His sister Rebekah was Isaac's wife (Genesis 24). Jacob, one of the sons of this marriage, fled to the house of Laban, whose daughters Leah and Rachel (ch. 29) he eventually married. (see JACOB.) (2.) A city in the Arabian desert in the route of the Israelites (Deuteronomy 1:1), probably identical with Libnah (Numbers 33:20). Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia LABAN la'-ban: The person named Laban, labhan; (Laban, possibly connected with the root meaning "to be white," from which in Hebrew the adjective meaning "white" has just this form) is first introduced to the reader of Genesis in the story of the wooing of Rebekah (Genesis 24). He belonged to that branch of the family of Terah that was derived from Abraham's brother Nahor and his niece Milcah. The genealogy of this branch is traced in Genesis 22:20-24; but, true to its purpose and the place it occupies in the book, this genealogy brings the family down to Rebekah, and there stops without mentioning Laban. Accordingly, when Rebekah is introduced in the narrative of Genesis 24, she is referred to (24:15, 24) in a way that recalls to the reader the genealogy already given; but when her brother Laban is introduced (24:29), he is related to his sister by the express announcement, "And Rebekah had brother, and his name was Laban." In this chapter he takes prominent part in the reception of Abraham's servant, and in the determination of his sister's future. That brothers had an effective voice in the marriage of their sisters is evident, not only from extra-Biblical sources, but from the Bible itself; see e.g. Songs 8:8. In Genesis 24, however, Laban is perhaps more prominent than even such custom can explain (compare 24:31, 50, 55), and we are led to see in him already the same forcefulness and egotism that are abundantly shown in the stories from his later life. The man's eager hospitality (verse 31), coming immediately after his mental inventory of the gifts bestowed by the visitor upon his sister (24:30), has usually, and justly, been regarded as a proof of the same greed that is his most conspicuous characteristic in the subsequent chapters. The story of that later period in Laban's life is so interwoven with the career of Jacob that little need here be added to what is said of Laban in JACOB, III, 2 (which see). By the time of Jacob's arrival he is already a very old man, for over 90 years had elapsed since Rebekah's departure. Yet even at the end of Jacob's 20 years' residence with him he is represented as still energetic and active (Genesis 31:19, 23), not only ready for an emergency like the pursuit after Jacob, but personally superintending the management of his huge flocks. His home is in Haran, "the city of Nahor," that is, the locality where Nahor and his family remained at the time when the rest of Terah's descendants emigrated to Canaan (Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:5). Since Haran, and the region about it where his flocks fed, belonged to the district called Aram (see PADDAN-ARAM; MESOPOTAMIA), Laban is often called "the Aramean" (English Versions of the Bible, "the Syrian," from Septuagint 5 ho Suros); see Genesis 25:20; Genesis 28:5; Genesis 31:20, 24. It is uncertain how far racial affinity may be read into this term, because the origin and mutual relationships of the various groups or strata of the Sere family are not yet clear. For Laban himself it suffices that he was a Semite, living within the region early occupied by those who spoke the Sere dialect that we call Aramaic. This dialect is represented in the narrative of Genesis as already differentiated from the dialect of Canaan that was Jacob's mother-tongue; for "the heap of witness," erected by uncle and nephew before they part (Genesis 31:47), is called by the one Jegar-saha-dutha and by the other Galeed-phrases which are equivalent in meaning, the former Aramaic, the latter Hebrew. (Ungnad, Hebrdische Grammatik, 1912, section 6 puts the date of the differentiation of Aramaic from "Amurritish" at "about 1500 B.C."; Skinner, "Genesis," ICC, argues that Genesis 31:47 is a gloss, following Wellhausen, Dillmann, et al.) The character of Laban is interesting to observe. On the one hand it shows a family likeness to the portraits of all his relations in the patriarchal group, preeminently, however, to his sister Rebekah, his daughter Rachel, and his nephew Jacob. The nearer related to Laban such figures are, the more conspicuously, as is fitting, do they exhibit Laban's mingled cunning, resourcefulness, greed and self-complacency. And, on the other hand, Laban's character is sui generis; the picture we get of him is too personal and complex to be denominated merely a "type." It is impossible to resolve this man Laban into a mythological personage-he is altogether human-or into a tribal representative (e.g. of "Syria" over against "Israel" equal Jacob) with any degree of satisfaction to the world of scholarship. Whether a character of reliable family tradition, or of popular story-telling, Laban is "a character"; and his intimate connection with the chief personage in Israel's national recollections makes it highly probable that he is no more and no less historical than Jacob himself (compare JACOB, VI). J. Oscar Boyd

Multi-Version Concordance Laban (52 Occurrences) Genesis 24:29 Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 24:32 Then the man came into the house, and Laban took their cords off the camels and gave them dry grass and food, and he gave to him and the men who were with him water for washing their feet. (BBE NAS RSV) Genesis 24:33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my message." He said, "Speak on." (See NIV) Genesis 24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered, "The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can't speak to you bad or good. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 25:20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 27:43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 28:2 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. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 28:5 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:5 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:10 It happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:13 It happened, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:14 Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh." He lived with him for a month. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:15 Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?" (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:16 Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:19 Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:21 Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:22 Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:24 Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:25 It happened in the morning that, 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?" (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:26 Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:28 And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife. (BBE RSV NIV) Genesis 29:29 Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 29:30 Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah; and he went on working for Laban for another seven years. (BBE NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 30:25 It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 30:27 Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 30:31 And Laban said, What am I to give you? And Jacob said, Do not give me anything; but I will again take up the care of your flock if you will only do this for me: (BBE) Genesis 30:34 Laban said, "Behold, let it be according to your word." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 30:36 He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 30:40 Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 30:42 but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:1 He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this wealth." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:2 Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:12 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. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:20 Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was running away. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:22 Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:24 God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:25 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. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:26 Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:31 Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said,'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.' (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:33 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. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:36 Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:43 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: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:48 Laban said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Galeed (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:51 Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 31:55 Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 32:4 He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau:'This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 46:18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Genesis 46:25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)