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Genesis 29:10

in Genesis 29

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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.

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This verse in Genesis 29

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Jacob went near, and rolled the stone - Probably the flock of Laban was the last of those which had a right to the well; that flock being now come, Jacob assisted the shepherds to roll off the stone, (for it is not likely he did it by himself), and so assisted his cousin, to whom he was as yet unknown, to water her flock.

This site's exposition

Rachel arrived with her father's sheep

on Genesis 29:9-11

Rachel arrives with her father's sheep, and Jacob rolls the stone away by himself and waters Laban's flock. Then he kisses her and weeps aloud. Chapter 24 ran the same scene for his mother: a traveller reaches the family's country, stops at a well, a woman comes to draw, and she runs home with the news. Moses meets his wife at a well in Midian at Exodus 2:16 to 21.

This site's exposition

rolled the stone away from the mouth

Adam Clarke doubts that Jacob moved the stone alone and thinks he helped the shepherds once Laban's flock had come. The verse ties Rachel, the sheep and the flock to his mother's brother, three times over in the Hebrew. Kinship drives the scene.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Laban, it seems, was so taken with Jacob's ingenuity and industry about his flocks that he was desirous he should continue with him, and very fairly reasons thus: " Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou therefore serve me for nought?

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother's brother,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Watering them, which is done twice a day, is a work of time and labor, and Jacob rendered no small service in volunteering his aid to the young shepherdess. The interview was affecting, the reception welcome, and Jacob forgot all his toils in the society of his Mesopotamian relatives.

The words behind it

29 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיְהִ֡יand it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁר֩just as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • רָאָ֨הhe saw

    raahH7200 →1300 times

  • יַעֲקֹ֜בJacob

    yaakoH3290 →350 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • רָחֵ֗לRachel

    rachelH7354 →47 times

  • בַּת־[the] daughter of

    bat-H1323 →588 times

  • לָבָן֙Laban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

  • אֲחִ֣י[the] brother of

    ʾachiH251 →630 times

  • אִמּ֔וֹmother his

    ʾimoH517 →220 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • צֹ֥אן[the] sheep of

    tzonH6629 →274 times

  • לָבָ֖ןLaban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

  • אֲחִ֣י[the] brother of

    ʾachiH251 →630 times

  • אִמּ֑וֹmother his

    ʾimoH517 →220 times

  • וַיִּגַּ֣שׁand he drew near

    vaiyigashH5066 →125 times

  • יַעֲקֹ֗בJacob

    yaakoH3290 →350 times

  • וַיָּ֤גֶלand he rolled

    vaiyagelH1556 →18 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָאֶ֙בֶן֙the stone

    haevenH68 →273 times

  • מֵעַל֙from over

    mealH5921 →5755 times

  • פִּ֣י[the] mouth of

    piH6310 →498 times

  • הַבְּאֵ֔רthe well

    habeerH875 →38 times

  • וַיַּ֕שְׁקְand he watered

    vaiyashkH8248 →61 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • צֹ֥אן[the] sheep of

    tzonH6629 →274 times

  • לָבָ֖ןLaban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

  • אֲחִ֥י[the] brother of

    ʾachiH251 →630 times

  • אִמּֽוֹ׃mother his

    ʾimoH517 →220 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

3 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 2:17

    And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 21:25

      But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,

    • Genesis 26:15–22

      So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

    • Exodus 2:12

      After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Jacob Tends Laban's Flocks and Meets Rachel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Jacob Tends Laban's Flocks and Meets Rachel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 29 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 29 →