Laban

Laban said to him: Let me find favour in thy sight. I have learned, by experience, that God hath blessed me for thy sake.

And Laban said: What shall I give thee? But he said: I require nothing, but if thou wilt do what I demand, I will feed and keep thy sheep again.

And Laban said: I like well what thou demandest.

But after that he had heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying: Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and being enriched by his substance is become great. And perceiving also, that Laban's countenance was not towards him as yesterday and the other day.

And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob. And I answered: Here I am. And he said: Lift up thy eyes, and see that all the males leaping upon the females are of divers colours, spotted and speckled. For I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee.

At that time Laban was gone to sheer his sheep, and Rachel stole away her father's idols.

And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad, it was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob fled.

So Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and of Lia, and of both the handmaids, and found them not. An when he was entered into Rachel's tent, she, in haste, hid the idols under the camel's furniture, and sat upon them.

Laban answered him: The daughters are mine, and the children, and thy flocks, and all things that thou seest are mine: what can I do to my children, and grandchildren?

And Laban called it 'The witness heap'; and Jacob, 'The hillock of testimony': each of them according to the propriety of his language.

And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

At Akub in Notting Hill, chef Fadi Kattan does a modern take on the traditional Palestinian dish, malfouf with laban, showcasing grilled hispi with garlic yoghurt and pomegranate.