Genesis 29:2

When he got there, he saw 3 mobs of sheep lying down in a paddock. They were all waiting next to a waterhole that had a big flat stone on top.

Barkly (portions)

In The King James Version

And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth.

In Context

1Jacob walked east until he got to his grandfather's country.

3In that culture, the shepherds and their sheep had to wait until everyone's sheep got there. Then the shepherds would take the stone off the waterhole and give water to all the sheep. When the sheep had finished drinking, the shepherds put the stone back over the waterhole to keep the water safe.

Read all of Genesis 29

Cross References

Genesis 24:11The worker and his camels walked for many days until they got to the town where Nahor lived. Abraham's worker made the camels get down on their knees to rest at a waterhole just outside the town. When it was nearly night time, the young girls from the town came out to the waterhole to get water in their billycans.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 29:2-9

Jacob's Arrival at Padan-aram. ( b. c. 1760.) 1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. 3 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. 4 And Jacob said… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 29:2