What Does Genesis 29:13 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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 lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.THE THREAD
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;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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