Shepherds … keepers of cattle: shepherds refers to people who tend or care for sheep and goats. Cattle refers to all kinds of livestock. Flocks are great numbers of sheep and goats. Herds is used to refer here to large numbers of cows or to livestock generally.

All that they have: that is, “all their possessions” or “all that they own.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .