Bible Strands
Genesis 31:22
On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports Laban’s realization after Jacob’s secret departure. This occurs on the third day following Jacob’s crossing of the Euphrates toward Gilead.
The words — וַיֻּגַד (va.yuggad) uses a passive verb form to state "it was told," indicating the news reached Laban through indirect channels. בָרַח (barach) means "he fled," describing Jacob’s decisive and unilateral departure.
The thread — The delayed pursuit parallels Exodus 14:5, where the king of Egypt is told the people fled and then changes his mind. The three-day interval also echoes the distance Laban previously established in Genesis 30:36.
Why it lands — The text records a factual delay before confrontation, requiring the reader to observe how timing structures human conflict. It demands recognition that consequences follow action without editorializing the moral outcome.
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 it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
Cross-references
- Genesis 30:36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.
- Exodus 14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”
- Job 5:12 He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.