Genesis 29:1-13 ▼

1 Jacob (he grasps the heel) resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.

2 He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

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.

4 “My brothers,” Jacob (he grasps the heel) asked the shepherds, “where are you⁺ from?” “We are from Haran (mountaineer),” they answered.

5 “Do you⁺ know Laban (white) the grandson of Nahor (snorting)?” Jacob asked. “We know him,” they replied.

6 “Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel (little lamb) with his sheep.”

7 “Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

8 But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel (little lamb) arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

10 As soon as Jacob (he grasps the heel) saw Rachel (little lamb), the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban (white), with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.

11 Then Jacob (he grasps the heel) kissed Rachel (little lamb) and wept aloud.

12 He (he grasps the heel) told Rachel (little lamb) that he was Rebekah’s (ensnarer) son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.

13 When Laban (white) heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob (he grasps the heel), he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.