Genesis 31:47

47 Now Laban 1called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

Genesis 31:47 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 31:47

And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha
Which in the Syriac and Chaldee languages signifies "an heap of witness"; it being, as after observed, a witness of the covenant between Laban and Jacob: but Jacob called it Galeed;
which in the Hebrew tongue signifies the same, "an heap of witness"; or "an heap, [the] witness", for the same reason. Laban was a Syrian, as he sometimes is called, ( Genesis 25:20 ) ( Genesis 31:20 Genesis 31:24 ) , wherefore he used the Syrian language; Jacob was a descendant of Abraham the Hebrew, and he used the Hebrew language; and both that their respective posterity might understand the meaning of the name; though these two are not so very different but Laban and Jacob could very well understand each other, as appears by their discourse together, these being but dialects of the same tongue.

Genesis 31:47 In-Context

45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46 Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
47 Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48 Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore it was named Galeed,
49 and Mizpah, for he said, "May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other.

Cross References 1

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. I.e. the heap of witness, in Aram
  • [b]. I.e. the heap of witness, in Heb
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