Reference: Well
Easton
(Heb beer), to be distinguished from a fountain (Heb 'ain). A "beer" was a deep shaft, bored far under the rocky surface by the art of man, which contained water which percolated through the strata in its sides. Such wells were those of Jacob and Beersheba, etc. (see Ge 21:19,25,30-31; 24:11; 26:15,18-25,32, etc.). In the Pentateuch this word beer, so rendered, occurs twenty-five times.
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And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.
And Abraham rebuked Abimelech for a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had taken away.
And he answered, "Seven lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well." Wherefore the place is called Beersheba, because they sware both of them.
And made his camels to lie down without the city by a well's side of water, at even: about the time that women come out to draw water.
insomuch that they stopped, and filled up with earth, all the wells which his father's servants digged in his father Abraham's time.
And Isaac digged again, the wells of water which they digged in the days of Abraham his father which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham, and gave them the same names which his father gave them. As Isaac's servants digged in the valley, they found a well of springing water. read more. And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." Then called he the well Esek, because they strove with him. Then digged they another well, and they strove for that also. Therefore called he it Sitnah. And then he departed thence, and digged another well for the which they strove not: therefore called he it Rehoboth, saying, "The LORD hath now made us room, and we are increased upon the earth." Afterward departed he thence and came to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not; for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." And then he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and there pitched his tent. And there Isaac's servants digged a well.
And the same day came Isaac's servants, and told him of a well which they had digged: and said unto him, that they had found water.
Fausets
(See FOUNTAIN.) As ''Ayin, "fount," literally, "eye", refers to the water springing up to us, so beer, "well," from a root "to bore," refers to our finding our way down to it. The Bir- and the En- are always distinct. The rarity of wells in the Sinaitic region explains the national rejoicings over Beer or the well, afterward Beer-Elim, "well of heroes" (Nu 21:16-18,22). God commanded Moses to cause the well to be dug; princes, nobles, and people, all heartily, believingly, and joyfully cooperated in the work. Naming a well marked right of property in it. To destroy it denoted conquest or denial of right of property (Ge 21:30-31; 26:15-33; 2Ki 3:19; De 6:11; Nu 20:17,19; Pr 5:15). "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well," i.e. enjoy the love of thine own wife alone.
Wells and cisterns are the two sources of oriental supply, each house had its own cistern (2Ki 18:31); to thirst for filthy waters is suicidal. Song 4:12; in Palestine wells are excavated in the limestone, with steps descending to them (Ge 24:16). A low stone wall for protection (Ex 21:33) surrounds the brim; on it sat our Lord in conversing with the Samaritan woman (Joh 4:6,11). A stone cover was above; this the woman placed on the well at Bahurim (2Sa 17:19), translated "the woman spread the covering over the well's mouth." A rope and bucket or water skin raised the water; the marks of the rope are still visible in the furrows worn in the low wall. See Nu 24:7, "he shall stream with water out of his two buckets," namely, suspended from the two ends of a pole, the usual way of fetching water from the Euphrates in Balaam's neighbourhood.
Wells are often contended for and are places of Bedouin attacks on those drawing water (Ex 2:16-17; Jg 5:11; 2Sa 23:15-16). Oboth (Nu 21:10-11) means holes dug in the ground for water. Beerlahairoi is the first well mentioned (Ge 16:14). Beersheba, Rehoboth, and Jacob's well are leading instances of wells (Ge 21:19; 26:22). They are sunk much deeper than ours, to prevent drying up. Jacob's well is 75 ft. deep, seven feet six inches in diameter, and lined with rough masonry; a pitcher unbroken at the bottom evidenced that there was water at some seasons, otherwise the fall would have broken the pitcher.
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Wherefore she called the well, "the well of the living that seeth me" which well is between Kadesh and Bered.
And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.
And he answered, "Seven lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well." Wherefore the place is called Beersheba, because they sware both of them.
The damsel was very fair to look upon, and yet a maid and unknown of man. And she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up again.
insomuch that they stopped, and filled up with earth, all the wells which his father's servants digged in his father Abraham's time. Then said Abimelech unto Isaac, "Get thee from me, for thou art mightier than we a great deal." read more. Then Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley Gerar and dwelt there. And Isaac digged again, the wells of water which they digged in the days of Abraham his father which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham, and gave them the same names which his father gave them. As Isaac's servants digged in the valley, they found a well of springing water. And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." Then called he the well Esek, because they strove with him. Then digged they another well, and they strove for that also. Therefore called he it Sitnah. And then he departed thence, and digged another well for the which they strove not: therefore called he it Rehoboth, saying, "The LORD hath now made us room, and we are increased upon the earth."
And then he departed thence, and digged another well for the which they strove not: therefore called he it Rehoboth, saying, "The LORD hath now made us room, and we are increased upon the earth." Afterward departed he thence and came to Beersheba. read more. And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not; for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." And then he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and there pitched his tent. And there Isaac's servants digged a well. Then came Abimelech to him from Gerar; and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol his chief captain. And Isaac said unto them, "Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me and have put me away from you?" Then said they, "We saw that the LORD was with thee, and therefore we said that there should be an oath betwixt us and thee, and that we would make a bond with thee: that thou shouldest do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and have done unto thee nothing but good, and send thee away in peace: for thou art now the blessed of the LORD." And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. And they rose up betimes in the morning and sware one to another. And Isaac sent them away. And they departed from him in peace. And the same day came Isaac's servants, and told him of a well which they had digged: and said unto him, that they had found water. And he called it Sheba, wherefore the name of the city is called Beersheba unto this day.
The priest of Midian had seven daughters which came and drew water and filled the troughs, for to water their father's sheep. And the shepherds came and drove them away: But Moses stood up and helped them and watered their sheep.
"If a man open a well or dig a pit and cover it not, but that an ox or an ass fall therein,
let us go a good fellowship through thy country: we will not go through the fields nor through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the fountains: but we will go by the highway and neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left, until we be past thy country."
And the children of Israel said unto him, "We will go by the beaten way: and if either we or our cattle drink of thy water, we will pay for it, we will do no more but pass through by foot only."
And the children of Israel removed and pitched in Oboth. And they departed from Oboth and lay at Iyeabarim in the wilderness, which is before Moab on the east side.
And from thence they came to Bear, which is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, "Gather the people together, that I may give them water." Then Israel sang this song: "Arise up, well! Sing thereto! The well which the rulers digged, and the captains of the people; with the help of the lawgiver, and with their staves!" read more. And from this wilderness they went to Mattanah,
"Let us go through thy land; We will not turn into thy fields nor into thy vineyards, neither drink of the water of the wells: but we will go along by the common way, until we be past thy country."
The water shall flow out of his bucket and his seed shall be many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag; and his kingdom shall be exalted.
and houses full of all manner goods which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, and vines and olive trees which thou planted not; and when thou hast eaten, and art full:
Now the archers did cry, where men draw water; there shall they tell of the justice of the LORD, and of the justice of his uplandish folk in Israel. And then the people of the LORD went down unto the gates.
And the wife took and spread a coverlet on the top of the well and strawed thereon steeped barley to dry. And the thing was not spied.
Hearken not unto Hezekiah, for thus sayeth the king of Assyria, 'Deal kindly with me, and come out to me. And then eat every man of his own vine, and of his own fig tree, and drink every man of the water of his own well,
Drink of the water of thine own well, and of the rivers that run out of thine own springs.
Thou art a well kept garden, O my sister, my spouse, thou are a well kept watering spring, and a sealed well.
and there was Jacob's well. Jesus, then wearied in his journey, sat thus on the well. And it was about the sixth hour:
The woman said unto him, "Sir, thou hast no thing to draw it withal, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that water of life?
Hastings
Smith
Well.
Wells in Palestine are usually excavated from the solid limestone rock, sometimes with steps to descend into them.
The brims are furnished with a curb or low wall of stone, bearing marks of high antiquity in the furrows worn by the ropes used in drawing water. It was on a curb of this sort that our Lord sat when he conversed with the woman of Samaria,
Joh 4:6
and it was this, the usual stone cover, which the woman placed on the mouth of the well at Bahurim,
where the Authorized Version weakens the sense by omitting the article. The usual methods for raising water are the following:
1. The rope and bucket, or waterskin.
Ge 24:14-20; Joh 4:11
2. The sakiyeh, or Persian wheel. This consists of a vertical wheel furnished with a set of buckets or earthen jars attached to a cord passing over the wheel. which descend empty and return full as the wheel revolves.
3. A modification of the last method, by which a man, sitting opposite to a wheel furnished with buckets, turns it by drawing with his hands one set of spokes prolonged beyond its circumference, and pushing another set from him with his feet.
4. A method very common in both ancient and modern Egypt is the shadoof, a simple contrivance consisting of a lever moving on a pivot, which is loaded at one end with a lump of clay or some other weight, and has at the other a bowl or bucket. Wells are usually furnished with troughs of wood or stone into which the water is emptied for the use of persons or animals coming to the wells. Unless machinery is used, which is commonly worked by men, women are usually the water-carriers.
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Now the damsel to whom I say, 'stoop down thy pitcher, and let me drink.' If she say, 'Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also,' the same is she that thou hast ordained for thy servant Isaac: yea, and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed mercy on my master. And it came to pass, yer he had left speaking, that Rebekah came out - the daughter of Bethuel, son to Milcah the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother - and her pitcher upon her shoulder. read more. The damsel was very fair to look upon, and yet a maid and unknown of man. And she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up again.
The damsel was very fair to look upon, and yet a maid and unknown of man. And she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up again. Then the servant ran unto her and said, "Let me sip a little water of thy pitcher." read more. And she said, "Drink, my lord." And she hasted and let down her pitcher upon her arm and gave him drink. And when she had given him drink, she said, "I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have drunk enough." And she poured out her pitcher into the trough hastily, and ran again unto the well, to fetch water: and drew for all his camels.
And the wife took and spread a coverlet on the top of the well and strawed thereon steeped barley to dry. And the thing was not spied.
and there was Jacob's well. Jesus, then wearied in his journey, sat thus on the well. And it was about the sixth hour:
The woman said unto him, "Sir, thou hast no thing to draw it withal, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that water of life?