Genesis 31:44

44 Come, let's make a treaty, you and me, and let something be our witness."

Genesis 31:44 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 31:44

Now therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, I and
thou
Let us be good friends, and enter into an alliance for mutual safety, and make an agreement for each other's good. Laban perceiving that Jacob's God was with him, and blessed him, and made him prosperous, and protected him, was fearful, lest, growing powerful, he should some time or other revenge himself on him or his, for his ill usage of him; and therefore was desirous of entering into a covenant of friendship with him: and let it be for a witness between me and thee;
that all past differences are made up, and former quarrels subside, and everything before amiss is forgiven and forgotten, and that for the future peace and good will subsist; of which a covenant made between them would be a testimony.

Genesis 31:44 In-Context

42 If the God of my father—the God of Abraham and the awesome one of Isaac—hadn't been with me, you'd have no doubt sent me away without anything. God saw my harsh treatment and my hard work and reprimanded you yesterday."

43 Laban responded and told Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. Everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and about their sons?

44 Come, let's make a treaty, you and me, and let something be our witness."

45 So Jacob took a stone, set it up as a sacred pillar,

46 and said to his relatives, "Gather stones." So they took stones, made a mound, and ate there near the mound.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or convenant or testimony