People of the Bible

Laban, son of Bethuel

The name Laban means “white; shining; gentle; brittle.” Laban is mentioned in 46 verses of the Bible, first in Genesis 24:29.

Family of Laban

Father

Siblings

Children

Who was Laban?

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 (Gen. 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 (Deut. 1:1), probably identical with Libnah (Num. 33:20).

Biography adapted from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), public domain, linked via Theographic Bible Metadata.

Key verses about Laban

  • Genesis 24:29

    And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.

  • Genesis 25:20

    And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan–aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

  • Genesis 28:2

    Arise, go to Padan–aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.

  • Genesis 29:10

    And it came to pass, 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.

  • Genesis 29:19

    And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.

  • Genesis 29:22

    And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

All 46 verses mentioning Laban