Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd.
Parallel translations
- WEB While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.
- KJV And while he yet spake 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.
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, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?
- Exod 2:15–16Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
- Exod 2:21Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
- Gen 24:15Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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