Genesis 31:47

47 And 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 And Jacob took a stone and set it up [as] a stone pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a pile of stones, and they ate there by the pile of stones.

47 And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

48 Then Laban said, "This pile of stones [is] a witness between me and you today." Therefore its name is called Galeed,

49 and Mizpah, because he said, "Yahweh watch between me and you when {we are out of sight of each other}.

Footnotes

• [a]. Aramaic for "the heap of witness"
• [b]. Hebrew for "the heap of witness"