Verse 23 tells what Laban does as a result of learning about Jacob’s escape. In some cases it may be necessary to mark this as a consequence: “So Laban…,” “Therefore Laban…,” “Because of that, Laban….”
He took his kinsmen with him: he refers to Laban. Kinsmen translates the Hebrew word for “brothers” as in 29.12, 15. These are probably trusted relatives on whom Laban could depend in case of conflict with Jacob.
Pursued him … and followed close after him: pursued him means “went after Jacob” with the intention of catching him. In some languages this action is expressed as “followed him.” In others descriptive expressions are used such as “followed in his footsteps” or “walked in his traces.” Followed close after translates a form of the Hebrew verb that means “to overtake” or “to catch up with.” See Good News Translation. The sense is not that Laban continued to follow Jacob into Gilead, as Revised Standard Version suggests, but that he caught up with him there. Some translations say “… got close to him in the hill country.”
For seven days: the text appears to mean that, after following Jacob for seven days, Laban caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. An example of the way this may be expressed is “They traveled for a week before they came up to Jacob in the hill country….”
According to Driver the distance from Haran to Gilead is about 560 kilometers (350 miles). Such a distance would require Laban’s party to travel 80 kilometers (50 miles) a day. It would be even more difficult for Jacob’s flocks to cover that distance in ten days. There are three ways we may view this problem:
1) The area called Gilead may have extended further east in the times of our story, and so the distance would have been shorter.
2) Seven days may refer to a general time to go a great distance. According to Speiser the expression is used this way in 2 Kgs 3.9.
3) The narrator may have underestimated the time such a journey would require.
In any event translators should keep seven days.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .