Genesis 29:27

Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Laban addresses Jacob during the wedding feast, promising to release him from his current seven-year contract so he may marry Rachel after the older daughter’s nuptial week concludes.

The words — The Hebrew מַלֵּא (malle') means "complete" and שְׁבֻעַ (shevu'a') denotes "week," anchoring the marriage agreement to a fixed period of labor and ritual observance.

The thread — This seven-day wedding cycle parallels the creation week in Genesis 2:2, mirrors the seven-day riddle contest in Judges 14:12, and later contrasts with the marital boundary in Leviticus 18:18.

Why it lands — The text records how patriarchal family alliances were secured through binding labor contracts and timed ritual periods, requiring the reader to track the economic and cultural mechanics behind ancient covenant arrangements.

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

מַלֵּ֖אma.Le'complete שְׁבֻ֣עַshe.Vu.a'[the] week of זֹ֑אתZotthis [one]וְנִתְּנָ֨הve./ni.te.Nahso/ let us giveלְךָ֜le./Khato <the>/ youגַּם־gam-also אֶת־'et-<obj.>זֹ֗אתZotthis [one]בַּעֲבֹדָה֙ba./'a.vo.Dahfor/ [the] service אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwhich תַּעֲבֹ֣דta.'a.Vodyou will serve עִמָּדִ֔י'i.ma.D/iwith/ me ע֖וֹדodagain שֶֽׁבַע־she.va'-seven שָׁנִ֥יםsha.Nimyears אֲחֵרֽוֹת׃'a.che.Rotanother

King James Version

Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

Cross-references

Leviticus 18:18 You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.
Judges 14:12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.
Genesis 2:2 And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
Genesis 8:10 Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
Judges 14:10 Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom.
Malachi 2:15 Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.