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 and set it up as a pillar.

46 Then Jacob said to his brethren, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

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

48 And Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore its name was called Galeed,

49 also Mizpah, because he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally, in Aramaic, Heap of Witness
• [b] Literally, in Hebrew, Heap of Witness