Lavan (לָבָן) first appears as Rivkah's brother, running out to meet Avraham's servant when he sees the gold nose-ring on his sister's face (Genesis 24:29–30). The detail is noticed: Lavan runs toward wealth. He reappears when Yaakov arrives from Canaan, fleeing Esav after the blessing incident. Yaakov works a month; Lavan asks what he should be paid. Yaakov asks for Rachel, whom he loves. Lavan agrees to seven years — and the seven years "seemed to him like a few days because of his love for her."
At the end of the seven years Lavan gives a feast, brings a wife veiled — and in the morning it is Leah. His excuse is that the elder must be married first. He offers Rachel for another seven years of work, and Yaakov agrees. Over the following years Lavan changes Yaakov's wages ten times (Genesis 31:41), each time moving the terms when Yaakov prospers. Yet God prospers Yaakov anyway: the striped, speckled, and spotted animals — whose selection Yaakov manages through an unusual breeding strategy — multiply while Lavan's solid-colored flocks thin out.
When Yaakov finally flees with his household, Lavan pursues and catches up at Gilead. He accuses Yaakov of theft and secret departure; Yaakov turns the accusation back with twenty years of faithfulness recounted in detail: "These twenty years I have been with you... I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times" (Genesis 31:41). God had warned Lavan in a dream not to speak good or bad to Yaakov, and Lavan acknowledges it. They set up a stone heap as a witness — the Galeed — and part. Lavan kisses his grandchildren and daughters and leaves. His daughters and their sons become Israel.
