Genesis 31:47

47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. ^[a]

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 So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,

46 and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate.

47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48 Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.

49 It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

Footnotes

• [a] The Aramaic Jegar-sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean heap of witnesses.