Genesis 31:47

47 Laban called 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 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.

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

48 Laban said, "This mound is our witness today," and, therefore, he too named it Galeed.

49 He also named it Mizpah, because he said, "The LORD will observe both of us when we are separated from each other.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or mound of witness (Aram)
• [b]. Or mound of witness