Genesis 29:3

When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator describes the routine actions of local shepherds at a field well Jacob has just observed. This occurs during Jacob’s initial arrival at Haran, immediately before he engages the shepherds in conversation.

The words — The text highlights וְ/גָלֲל֤וּ (ve./ga.la.Lu), meaning “and they rolled,” denoting the physical removal of the well cover. It also specifies הָ/אֶ֙בֶן֙ (ha./'E.ven), literally “the stone,” which seals the well’s mouth until the flocks are gathered.

The thread — This description of a covered well establishes the practical conditions of Jacob’s journey to Haran. The same well and its stone cover frame the subsequent dialogue between Jacob and the shepherds in Genesis 29:4.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge the communal labor necessary to access water in the region. It sets the stage for Jacob’s interaction with the shepherds by establishing the well as a shared, regulated resource.

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 thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place.