What Does Genesis 29:13 Mean?
And when Laban heard the report of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him, and clasped him, and kissed him, and brought him into his house. And Jacob recounted to Laban all these words.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.THE KEY
The Hebrew root שמע names both Laban’s hearing and the tidings he hears, so the welcome begins when a report draws him into motion.
THE MEANING
Here, hearing does not leave Jacob at a distance: the tidings move Laban toward him, into embrace, kiss, and home. Welcome appears as attention taking bodily form and making room.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that being heard means only that your information has registered dissolves here: hearing draws Laban toward the person who carries the news.
THE ROOT
שְׁמֹעַ
shamoaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
“heard / tidings” in this verse is shamoaʿ. The verb “heard” and the noun “tidings” grow from the same root: the tidings are what is heard. The verse then gives that hearing a visible shape, Laban runs toward Jacob and brings him home.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: To hear or listen.
שָׁמַע
This is the root behind “heard”; Laban’s listening begins the sequence of approach.
shemaʿ: A report, news, or tidings; what is heard.
שֵׁמַע
This is the word rendered “tidings,” binding the message to the act of hearing it.
THE PATTERN
Receiving another person as a real presence turns attention into welcome: movement, touch, and an open home.
And he lifted his eyes and saw, and look, three men stood beside him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent opening, and bowed down to the earth.Do not let slip the opening of your home to strangers, for by it some have sheltered messengers without knowing it.And when she was immersed, and her household, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me steady in the Lord, come into my house and stay there. And she pressed us.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the bending low of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their drivers. For I know their pains.The same Hebrew root שמע appears in “have heard,” joined here with seeing affliction and knowing sorrow. Genesis makes that listening visible as movement toward another person: Laban runs to Jacob and opens his home.
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