Bible Strands
Genesis 29:22
So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Laban acts after Jacob completes his seven years of service and formally requests his bride. He gathers the local community to host the wedding celebration before delivering Leah to Jacob at night.
The words — The narrative highlights וַיֶּאֱסֹף (va-yessōp̄) meaning “he gathered” and מִשְׁתֶּה (mishteh) meaning “a feast.” These terms anchor the immediate action of assembling guests and organizing a celebratory meal.
The thread — This gathering for a wedding feast echoes the custom recorded in Judges 14:10 and anticipates the eschatological banquet described in Revelation 19:9. Laban’s local celebration functions as a narrative precursor to the broader biblical motif of covenantal marriage meals.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of how covenantal transitions are publicly ratified through communal participation. It requires the reader to trace the progression from local patriarchal arrangements to the definitive divine marriage supper.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
Cross-references
- Revelation 19:9 Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
- Judges 14:10 Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom.
- Ruth 4:10 Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.”
- Matthew 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
- Matthew 25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
- John 2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,