When all the flocks were gathered there: the thought expressed here is “Whenever all … there.” That is, the stone would be removed only when all the flocks were present to be watered. Von Rad suggests that all the shepherds had equal rights to the well, and that the well was only opened when they were all present, in order to avoid “any mischief of individual partners.”

The shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well: roll means to move by turning over and over like a wheel. Driver, citing Thompson, says “Cisterns—and sometimes also ‘wells’—are in the East still generally covered in by a broad and thick flat stone, with a round hole in the middle, which in its turn is often covered with a heavy stone, which it requires two or three men to roll away….” Another view is that the well mouth was covered by a very large rock that could be rolled back far enough to allow water to be drawn. It is also possible that the flat stone covering the mouth was turned on its edge and rolled back.

And water the sheep: the process is not described, but some translators may need more information than is given here. Watering the animals required drawing water from the well with a rope and skin bucket, and emptying the water into a drinking trough where the animals drank. See 24.20.

And put the stone back in its place upon the mouth of the well: the final act each time the sheep were watered was to replace the stone.

We may translate verse 3, for example:

• Whenever all the flocks were there, the herders would remove the stone from the opening of the well. They would then draw water for their animals, and when they were finished, they would replace the stone over the well.

In some languages it is more natural to give the description of what happened each day at the well first, so that it does not interrupt the story line. One translation that follows this restructuring of verses 2-3 says:

• At last he came to a well where the shepherds used to water their sheep. They had a big stone there to shut the well. Every day, when the shepherds brought their sheep, they used to….
When Jacob came to that well, three flocks of sheep were lying there waiting for water, and Jacob spoke to the shepherds who were sitting there.

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 .