1. So Jacob moved on and came to the land of the eastern people.
2. He saw in the field a well with three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now a large stone covered the mouth of the well.
3. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds 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.
4. Jacob asked them, “My brothers, where are you from?” They replied, “We’re from Haran.”
5. So he said to them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” “We know him,” they said.
6. “Is he well?” Jacob asked. They replied, “He is well. Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
7. Then Jacob said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.”
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 the sheep.”