Genesis 31:47

47 Lavan called it Yegar-Sahaduta, but Ya`akov called it Gal`ed.

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 Ya`akov took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

46 Ya`akov said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.

47 Lavan called it Yegar-Sahaduta, but Ya`akov called it Gal`ed.

48 Lavan said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Gal`ed

49 and Mitzpah, for he said, "The LORD watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.