Genesis 29:22

Summary

The verse narrates that Laban gathered all the men of the place and prepared a feast. It marks the transition to the wedding events following Jacob's seven years of labor for Rachel.

Key words

• va-ye'esof ("and he gathered", H0622) — qal narrative verb (vav-consecutive) marking the next sequential action in the story; subject is Laban.
• kol ("all", H3605) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking to the following noun to express totality: "all of...".
• 'anshei ("men of", H0582) — masculine plural noun in construct state, forming a construct chain with ha-maqom: "the men of the place."
• ha-maqom ("the place", H4725) — masculine singular noun with definite article, completing the construct phrase.
• va-ya'as ("and he made/prepared", H6213H) — second qal narrative verb, continuing the sequence of Laban's actions.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two sequential narrative verbs (va-ye'esof and va-ya'as), both in the qal stem with the vav-consecutive construction typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative, indicating one action following directly after the other: first gathering, then preparing. The subject, Lavan ("Laban", H3837A), is stated once and governs both verbs.

The object of the first verb is expressed through a construct chain: kol ("all", H3605) + 'anshei ("men of", H0582) + ha-maqom ("the place", H4725). This chain, "all the men of the place," is marked by the direct object indicator 'et (H0853), which has no independent meaning in translation but signals that what follows is the direct object of ye'esof.

The final word, mishteh ("a feast", H4960), is the object of the second verb va-ya'as, without further qualification in the Hebrew text — it is simply "a feast," not specified as a wedding feast in the Hebrew wording itself, though the surrounding narrative context concerns Jacob's marriage.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mishteh ("a feast", H4960) as γάμον ("wedding" or "marriage feast"), specifying the nature of the feast, where the Hebrew text simply states "a feast" without that qualifier. The Vulgate similarly interprets the event as nuptias ("wedding/nuptials"), adding the detail vocatis multis amicorum turbis ("having invited many crowds of friends"), which is not present in the Hebrew wording — the Hebrew specifies "all the men of the place" via the construct chain, not "many crowds of friends."