Genesis 31:47

47 Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).

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 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.

46 Jacob called his family around, "Get stones!" They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones.

47 Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).

48 Laban said, "This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me." (That's why it is called Galeed - Witness Monument.)

49 It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, "God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.