Bible Strands
Genesis 29:10
As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob arrives at a well and sees Rachel, his mother’s brother’s daughter, tending Laban’s sheep. He immediately climbs forward, removes the well’s covering stone, and waters the flock.
The words — The Hebrew רָאָה (ra'ah) denotes direct visual perception, while כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka'asher) functions as a temporal marker meaning “just as.” Together they establish that Jacob’s physical action is triggered by immediate recognition.
The thread — The narrative of removing a well stone to water livestock reappears in Exodus 2:17 when Moses helps Midianite shepherds. Both accounts place a patriarchal figure at a water source, displacing a heavy barrier to serve grazing animals.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe how decisive physical labor answers an immediate need without prior instruction. It positions the reader to note that covenantal relationships in Genesis are often initiated through practical, unscripted intervention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
Cross-references
- Exodus 2:17 And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock.