What Does Genesis 24:13 Mean in the King James?

Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:

Genesis 24:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The Hebrew word rendered “well” is also “eye,” so this scene begins at the water’s visible source, where an encounter is gathering.

THE MEANING

The verse places you beside a source before the encounter’s meaning is known: someone stands, others arrive, and water is drawn. It makes the ordinary movement toward what sustains life the threshold of what unfolds.

THE ROOT

עַיִן

ʿayin

GROWS FROM

ע־י־ן

ʿ-y-n

Eye; also a spring or fountain, the point where water emerges.

The Hebrew noun ⁨עַיִן⁩ (ʿayin, “spring”) is also the word for “eye.” The source is both an opening from which water emerges and an image of seeing, a depth the English “well” leaves hidden.

ALSO GROWS

ʿayin: eye

עַיִן

The same noun names the spring in this verse, joining the image of seeing to the place water emerges.

maʿyan: spring, fountain

מַעְיָן

This related word names a spring or fountain, keeping the source sense visible in the same word family.

THE PATTERN

People arriving to draw water meet an encounter that redirects what happens next.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

Exodus 2:16 · KJVThe daughters’ arrival to draw water opens the scene of Moses meeting the women of Midian.

And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?

1 Samuel 9:11 · KJVOn the way to seek Samuel, Saul’s path turns through an encounter with young women going to draw water.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

John 4:7 · KJVA woman’s ordinary trip to draw water becomes the opening of an encounter that reveals more than the water at the well.

THE THREAD

And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

Genesis 16:7 · KJV

The same word ⁨עַיִן⁩ (ʿayin, “spring” or “eye”) names the water source beside Hagar. Its double sense lets the spring carry an image of both water emerging and a person being seen.

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