Genesis 31:47

47 And Laban called it, The witness heap; and Jacob, The hillock of testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.

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 for a title.

46 And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they, gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it.

47 And Laban called it, The witness heap; and Jacob, The hillock of testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.

48 And Laban said: This heap shall be a witness between me and thee this day, and therefore the name thereof was called Galaad, that is, The witness heap.

49 The Lord behold and judge between us, when we shall be gone one from the other.