Genesis 29:2-3

29:2 He saw ¹  in the field a well with ²  three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now ³  a large stone covered the mouth of the well. 29:3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds ⁴  would roll the stone off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the well’s mouth.

Genesis 21:30

21:30 He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof ⁵  that I dug this well.” ⁶ 

Genesis 24:20

24:20 She quickly emptied ⁷  her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw more water until she had drawn enough for all his camels.

Genesis 26:20

26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ⁸  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ⁹  named the well ¹⁰  Esek ¹¹  because they argued with him about it. ¹² 

Genesis 26:32

26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. ¹³ 

Genesis 29:8

29:8 “We can’t,” they said, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well. Then we water ¹⁴  the sheep.”

¹ tn Heb “and he saw, and look.” As in Gen 28:12-15, the narrator uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here and in the next clause to draw the reader into the story.

² tn Heb “and look, there.”

³ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the noun with the prefixed conjunction) provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the shepherds) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “that it be for me for a witness.”

⁸ sn This well. Since the king wanted a treaty to share in Abraham’s good fortune, Abraham used the treaty to secure ownership of and protection for the well he dug. It would be useless to make a treaty to live in this territory if he had no rights to the water. Abraham consented to the treaty, but added his rider to it.

¹⁰ tn Heb “and she hurried and emptied.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew verb translated “quarreled” describes a conflict that often has legal ramifications.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and he called the name of the well.”

¹⁶ sn The name Esek means “argument” in Hebrew. The following causal clause explains that Isaac gave the well this name as a reminder of the conflict its discovery had created. In the Hebrew text there is a wordplay, for the name is derived from the verb translated “argued.”

¹⁷ tn The words “about it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁶ tn Heb “and they said to him, ‘We have found water.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁹ tn The perfect verbal forms with the vav (ו) consecutive carry on the sequence begun by the initial imperfect form.