Bible Strands
Genesis 29:4
“My brothers,” Jacob asked the shepherds, “where are you from?” “We are from Haran,” they answered.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob addresses local shepherds at a well immediately after his arrival, initiating a direct inquiry about their geographic origin. He poses this question before pressing for information about Laban in the following verse.
The words — The Hebrew מֵ/אַ֣יִן (me./'A.yin) literally renders "from/where?" as Jacob queries the shepherds. Their reply uses מֵ/חָרָ֖ן (me./cha.Ran) to identify Haran as their specific point of departure.
The thread — This exchange confirms Jacob’s arrival at the destination commanded in Genesis 27:43 and tracks his journey from Beersheba to Haran (Genesis 28:10). The location also echoes Genesis 11:31, where Terah’s family originally settles.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to observe how Jacob’s straightforward question verifies his physical arrival at the designated refuge. It establishes the immediate factual context for his subsequent inquiry about Laban’s household.
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 Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.
Cross-references
- Genesis 28:10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
- Genesis 27:43 So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
- Genesis 11:31 And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.
- Genesis 24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim.
- Acts 7:2 And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
- Acts 7:4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.