Genesis 29:19

19 Laban said, "I'd rather give her to you than to another man. Stay with me."

Genesis 29:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 29:19

And Laban said
Deceitfully, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, pretending great respect for Jacob, and that what he had proposed was very agreeable to him, when he meant to impose upon him:

[it is] better that I should give her to thee, than that I should give
her to another man;
by which he not only intimates that he preferred him, a relation, to another man, a stranger; but as if he did not insist upon the servitude for her, but would give her to him; unless he means upon the terms proposed, and so it should seem by what follows:

abide with me:
the term of seven years, and serve me; suggesting, that then he agreed Rachel should be his wife; and so Jacob, a plain hearted man, understood him; but he designed no such thing.

Genesis 29:19 In-Context

17 Leah had delicate eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and was good-looking.

18 Jacob loved Rachel and said, "I will work for you for seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

19 Laban said, "I'd rather give her to you than to another man. Stay with me."

20 Jacob worked for Rachel for seven years, but it seemed like a few days because he loved her.

21 Jacob said to Laban, "The time has come. Give me my wife so that I may sleep with her."