7. And (Jacob) said, "Behold, the day is still many; It is not the time to gather the cattle, but water the sheep and go and graze.

A shepherd himself, James advises not to waste time and, having watered the flock, continue to feed it until sunset. Perhaps, however, Jacob deliberately wants to remove the shepherds, not wanting to have outside witnesses to his first meeting with his cousin.

8. They said, "We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well; then we will water the sheep.

To Jacob, who is not familiar with the customs of the area, the shepherds of Harran explain that the well (probably as the common property of several owners) is opened only after the arrival of all the flocks.

9. Jacob meets Rachel.

9. And he was talking to them, when Rachel (Laban's daughter) came with her father's flocks, because she was tending (her father's flocks).

That Rachel was a shepherdess (Hebrew roah – adj. Greek and Slav, added: "her father's sheep") was not humiliating for her, since in the ancient and modern (according to Burckhardt) East, shepherding was and remains a common occupation for the unmarried daughters of even noble sheikhs.

10. When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of his mother's brother Laban and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob came and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother's brother.

The impression of meeting with a relative gives Jacob a lift of spirit, and he, wishing to please Rachel and Laban (Jacob's kinship with the latter is deliberately exposed here – in the triple designation of Laban as Jacob's uncle), performs the difficult task of lifting a stone from the mouth of the well; and he, as a stranger, could do this without being embarrassed by local customs.

11. И поцеловал Иаков Рахиль и возвысил голос свой и заплакал.

Непосредственно после проявления мужества и силы (ст. 10) Иаков обнаруживает необыкновенную чувствительность: в поцелуе Рахили и затем в слезах. Иаков заплакал от радости свидания, после пережитых испытаний пути (ср. 43:30;[874] 45:14-15;[875] 46:29[876]).

12. И сказал Иаков Рахили, что он родственник отцу ее и что он сын Ревеккин. А она побежала и сказала отцу своему (всё сие).

Иаков называет себя братом Лавана, конечно, в обширном значении – родственника (русск. пер.), братьями названы Авраам и Лот. Девица бежит домой, как Ревекка (24:28[877]), но рассказывает о посетителе не матери, как та, а отцу; может быть, как замечают раввины, матери Рахили в это время уже не было в живых; в дальнейшем рассказе она совершенно не упоминается.

13. Лаван встречает и принимает Иакова.