Lexicon :: Strong's H6629 - ṣō'n

She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground.

And Abel also presented an offering ​— ​some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,

He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.

Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.

Abraham took flocks and herds and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

“The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.

“Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father ​— ​the kind he loves.

He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. But a large stone covered the opening of the well.

“Is he well? ” Jacob asked.

“Yes,” they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep.”

Laban asked, “What should I give you? ”

And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock.

He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flock.

He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep ​— ​in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were.

“If he said, ‘The spotted sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, ‘The streaked sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born streaked.

“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.

“And he said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

“I’ve been with you these twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock.

“For twenty years in your household I served you ​— ​fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks ​— ​and you have changed my wages ten times!

Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the children, my children; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?

“I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.’ ”

Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, herds, and camels.

Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing flocks and herds. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.

They took their flocks, herds, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.

These are the family records of Jacob.

At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

After a long time[fn] Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers.

“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied.

But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”

“You can settle in the land of Goshen and be near me ​— ​you, your children, and your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all you have.

“The men are shepherds; they also raise livestock. They have brought their flocks and herds and all that they have.’

“you are to say, ‘Your servants, both we and our ancestors, have raised livestock[fn] from our youth until now.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to Egyptians.”

So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.”

And Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation? ”

They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants, both we and our ancestors, are shepherds.”