And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them.
Parallel translations
- WEB While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.
- BSB While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
- NKJV Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
- NASB While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
- NLT Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As Jacob speaks, Rachel arrives with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
Overview
Rachel's arrival mid-conversation again displays God's precise timing in bringing Jacob and his future wife together. That she tends the flock herself shows her industrious place in Laban's household. This well-side meeting becomes the providential beginning of the family from which the tribes of Israel will spring.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Song 1:7–8Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
- Exod 2:15–16Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.
- Exod 2:21And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
- Gen 24:15And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 29:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.