And when he came to the water [i.e., well] of Madyan, he found there a crowd of people watering [their flocks], and he found aside from them two women holding back [their flocks]. He said, "What is your circumstance?" They said, "We do not water until the shepherds dispatch [their flocks]; and our father is an old man."
خَطۡبُكُمَاۖ(is the) matter with both of youkhaṭbukumā
قَالَتَاThey saidqālatā
لَاWe cannot waterlā
نَسۡقِيWe cannot waternasqī
حَتَّىٰuntilḥattā
يُصۡدِرَtake awayyuṣ'dira
ٱلرِّعَآءُۖthe shepherdsl-riʿāu
وَأَبُونَاand our fatherwa-abūnā
شَيۡخٞ(is) a very old manshaykhun
كَبِيرٞ(is) a very old mankabīrun
Tafsir
When he reached the waterhole of Madyan he found a group of people watering their livestock. He also found two women a little distance away, stopping their livestock from the water until the rest of the people finished. Moses asked them: “Why is it that you do not water your livestock along with the rest of the people?” They said to him, “It is our habit that we arrive but do not water until the shepherds disperse, fearing mixing in with them. Our father is an aged man; he cannot water the livestock, so we are compelled to do it ourselves.”