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

GENESIS 29:27KJV
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Genesis 29:27 (KJV)

What does Genesis 29:27 mean?

Genesis 29:27 records Laban telling Jacob to complete the week of wedding celebrations for Leah, after which Laban promises to give Rachel to Jacob as a wife as well—if Jacob agrees to serve Laban for another seven years. This verse explains the arrangement Laban makes with Jacob, tying the marriage to Rachel to an additional period of service.

Laban is speaking to Jacob after deceiving him into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. The "week" refers to the traditional seven-day wedding celebration for Leah. Laban proposes that after this week is finished, Jacob can also marry Rachel, but only if he commits to another seven years of work. This sets up the next stage in Jacob’s story, showing both Laban’s cunning and the customs of the time.

The Hebrew behind Genesis 29:27

  • "Fulfil" (מלא, malē): This word means to complete or finish something. Here, it refers to Jacob completing the full week of wedding festivities for Leah before marrying Rachel.
  • "Week" (שָׁבוּעַ, shavu'a): This is the Hebrew word for a period of seven days, often used for a wedding celebration. It clarifies that the "week" is not just any week, but the specific celebration tied to the marriage.
  • "Service" (עֲבֹדָה, avodah) and "serve" (עָבַד, avad): Both words relate to work or labor. Laban is making it clear that Jacob’s marriage to Rachel is conditional on another term of hard service, not simply a gift.

Why Genesis 29:27 matters

  • This verse clears up why Jacob ended up working a total of fourteen years for Laban: the second seven years were a condition for marrying Rachel, not Leah.
  • The verse highlights the customs of the time, where wedding celebrations lasted a week and family arrangements could involve lengthy service.
  • It shows Laban’s manipulative character and sets the stage for ongoing tension and negotiation between Jacob and Laban throughout the following chapters.

Where else these words appear

“week” Hebrew H7620 · used in 17 verses

  • Genesis 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
  • Deuteronomy 16:10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
  • Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

“her” Hebrew H2063 · used in 38 verses

  • Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
  • Leviticus 26:27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
  • 1 Kings 3:23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.

“service” Hebrew H5656 · used in 125 verses

  • Genesis 30:26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
  • Numbers 4:31 And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof,
  • 1 Chronicles 23:26 And also unto the Levites; they shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof.