Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed and Mizpah, for he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.
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Genesis 31:47-49 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed and Mizpah, for he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.” Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac. Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain. Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.
Parallel Translations
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Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed
and Mizpah, for he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.
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And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.
And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;
And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
Show all 3 translations
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And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha; but Jacob called it Galeed.
And Laban said: 'This heap is witness between me and thee this day.' Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;
and Mizpah, for he said: 'The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
Cross-references (12)
- Judges 11:29 (v49) Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead…
- Joshua 24:27 (v48) Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all Yahweh’s words which he spoke to us.…
- Genesis 31:23 (v48) He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
- Deuteronomy 2:36 (v48) From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too…
- Deuteronomy 3:16 (v48) To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and its border, even to…
Show all 12 cross-references
- Joshua 13:8-9 (v48) With him the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, even as Moses the…
- Judges 10:17 (v49) Then the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped…
- 1 Samuel 7:5-6 (v49) Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured…
- Hebrews 12:1 (v47) Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily…
- Judges 11:11 (v49) Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh…
- 1 Kings 15:22 (v49) Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Judah. No one was exempted. They carried away the stones of Ramah, and its timber, with which…
- Hosea 5:1 (v49) “Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 47. And Laban called it. Each, in his own…
47. And Laban called it. Each, in his own language, gives a name, of the same signification, to the heap. Whence it appears, that Laban used the Syrian tongue, though born of the race of Heber. But it is not wonderful that he, dwelling among Syrians, should have accustomed himself to the language as well as to the manners of the Syrians. And a little before, he is twice called a Syrian; as if Moses would describe him as degenerate, and alienated from the Hebrews. But this seems by no means accordant with the previous history, where we read that the daughters of Laban gave Hebrew names to their sons. Yet the solution is not difficult; for since the affinity between these languages was great, the inflection of one word into another was easy: besides, if the wives of Jacob were tractable, it is not surprising that they should have learned his language. And beyond doubt, he would himself make a point of this matter: seeing he knew that his family was separated from the rest of the nations. Moses, in using the name of Galeed, does it proleptically; for since he was writing for his own times, he does not scruple to give it the generally received name. Moreover we hence infer, that ceremonies and rites ought to refer to that which those who use them mutually agree upon. Which rule also ought to be applied to the sacraments; because if the word by which God enters into covenant with us be taken away, useless and dead figures will alone remain.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 Or, the heap of witness.
Or, the heap of witness.
The one named the place in the Syrian tongue, and the other in the Hebrew tongue.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv47–49 Gen 31:47 And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob…
Gen 31:47 And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.
Ver. 47. {See Trapp on "Gen 31:44"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v47 Both names signify the same thing, a heap of…
Both names signify the same thing, a heap of witness; only Laban gives the name in the Syrian language; but Jacob, though he had been long conversant in Syria, and understood that language, yet he chose to give it in Hebrew, which was both a secret renouncing of the Syrian manners and religion, together with their language, and an implicit profession of his conjunction with the Hebrews, as in their tongue, so in their religion.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv47–49 If thou shall afflict my daughters,.... In body or…
If thou shall afflict my daughters,.... In body or mind, by giving them hard blows, or ill words, and by withholding from them the necessaries of life, food and raiment, and the like:
or if thou shall take other wives besides my daughters; which also would be an affliction and vexation to them, see Lev 18:18. Laban, though he had led Jacob into polygamy, and even obliged him to it, did not choose he should go further into it, for the sake of his daughters, to whom he professes now much kindness and affection, though he had shown but little to them before; as well as talks in a more religious strain than he had been used to do:
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no man is with us; the sense is not that there were none with them at the present time, for the men or brethren that Laban brought with him were present: or that there were none fit to be witnesses, because these were kinsmen, for they are appealed to by Jacob as judges between them, Gen 31:33; but this refers to time to come, and may be supplied thus, "when no man be with us"; when there is none to observe what is done by either of us, contrary to mutual agreement, and to report it to one or other: then
see, take notice, and observe:
God is witness betwixt me and thee; who is omniscient and omnipresent, sees, observes all the actions of men, and deals with them accordingly; and so will be a witness for or against each of us, as we shall behave in observing, or not observing, the terms of our covenant.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv47–49 Verse 47. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha] יגר שהדותא yegar…
Verse 47. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha] יגר שהדותא yegar sahadutha, the heap or round heap of witness; but Jacob called it galed, which signifies the same thing. The first is pure Chaldee, the second pure Hebrew. אגר agar signifies to collect, hence יגר yegar and אוגר ogar, a collection or heap made up of gathered stones; and hence also אגורא egora, an altar, used frequently by the Chaldee paraphrast. See 1Kg 12:33; Jdg 6:31; 2Kg 21:3; Jer 17:1. See Castel's Lexicon. From this example we may infer that the Chaldee language was nearly coequal with the Hebrew. A gloss made by St. Jerome, and which was probably only entered by him in his margin as a note, has crept into the text of the Vulgate. It is found in every copy of this version, and is as follows: Uterque juxta proprietatem linguae suae, Each according to the idiom of his own tongue.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v47 Gen 31:47-53. But Jacob called it Galeed — The…
Gen 31:47-53. But Jacob called it Galeed — The name Laban gave it signifies the heap of witness, in the Syrian tongue, which he used, and Galeed signifies the same in Hebrew, the language which Jacob used. It appears that the name which Jacob gave it remained to it, and not the name which Laban gave it. And Mizpah — (Gen 31:49,) This name in Hebrew signifies a watchtower. And they agreed to give it this second name to remind them and their posterity of the solemn appeal they had now mutually made to the all-seeing eye of God, whose providence watches over the actions of mankind, rewarding sincerity and punishing deceitfulness. They appeal to him, 1st, As a witness, The Lord judge between thee and me — That is, the Lord take cognizance of every thing that shall be done on either side in violation of this league. 2d, As a judge. The God of Abraham, (Gen 31:53,) from whom Jacob was descended; and the God of Nahor — Laban’s progenitor; the God of their father — From whom they were both descended; judge betwixt us. God’s relation to them is thus expressed, to intimate that they worshipped one and the same God, upon which consideration there ought to be no enmity betwixt them. Those that have one God, should have one heart: God is judge between contending parties, and he will judge righteously. Whoever does wrong, it is at his peril. Jacob sware by the Fear of his father Isaac — The God whom his father Isaac feared, who had never served other gods, as Abraham and Nahor had done: to this only living and true God he offered a sacrifice, (Gen 31:54,) in gratitude for the peace he had obtained with Laban.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 Testimony. Hebrew makes Laban give this etymology, Jegar-saha-dutha; while…
Testimony. Hebrew makes Laban give this etymology, Jegar-saha-dutha; while Galaad means the hill or the witness. The Syrian language had now begun to deviate some little from the Hebrew of Jacob. --- Each, &c. This is added by the Vulgate. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv47–48 47. Jegar-sahadutha… Galeed — The Aramaic and Hebrew words,…
47. Jegar-sahadutha… Galeed — The Aramaic and Hebrew words, respectively, for heap of witness. יגרyegar, or gar, is a dialectic variation of גל, gal, rendered heap in Gen_31:46. This incidental notice of the naming of their stone memorial shows that already, in Jacob’s time, the dialectical differences between the Aramaic and Hebrew tongues were noticeable. This was probably the origin of the name Gilead, applied to the whole range of mountains running north and south on the east of the Jordan. The particular spot where the covenant was made was probably at the northern end of the range, not at what was later known as Mizpeh of Gilead, (Jdg_11:29,) for Jacob, after this, passing southward crossed the Jabbok, (Wady Zerka,) which is itself north of the modern mount Jelad. The name Mizpah (Gen_31:49) subsequently became very common, and is applied to three other places on the east (Jos_11:3; Jdg_10:17; 1Sa_22:3) and two on the west of the Jordan. Jos_15:38; Jos_18:26.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv47–49 47. And Laban called it] This verse, which anticipates…
47. And Laban called it] This verse, which anticipates and does not agree with Gen_31:48-49, must be a learned gloss.
Laban the Syrian (cf. Gen_31:20, Gen_28:5) gives an Aramaic name, Jacob the Hebrew gives a Hebrew name. In the region of Gilead, in later times, both languages were probably spoken1[25].
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[25] “Pillars of testimony” occur to-day in groups at many places, especially where the traveller first catches sight of some sacred spot. Thereupon he sets stones one upon the other in the shape of a column, and says, “Oh, so and so (mentioning the name of the saint whose weli he sees), as I by this bear testimony to thee, so do thou bear testimony to me in the day of judgment” (Peters, Early Hebrew Story, p. 111f.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 (47) Jegar-sahadutha.—These are two Syriac words of the same…
(47) Jegar-sahadutha.—These are two Syriac words of the same meaning as Gal-’eed, Heap of Witness. A Syriac (or Aramaic) dialect was most probably the ordinary language of the people in Mesopotamia, but it seems plain that Laban and his family also spoke Hebrew, not merely from his calling the placo Mizpah, a Hebrew word, but from the names given by his daughters to their children.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv47–48 And Laban called it Jegar sahadutha: A Chaldaic term…
And Laban called it Jegar sahadutha: A Chaldaic term signifying "Heap of testimony," bounoav (LXX); tumulum testis (Vulgate)but Jacob called it Galeed compounded of Gal and ed and meaning, like the corresponding Aramaic term used" by Laban, "Heap of witness," bounortuv (LXX); acervum testimonii (Vulgate). "It is scarcely possible to doubt," says Kalisch, "that an important historical fact," relating to the primitive language of the patriarchs, "is concealed in this part of the narrative;" but whether that fact was that Aramaic, Syriac, or Chaldee was the mother-tongue of the family of Nahor, while Hebrew was acquired by Abraham in Canaan (Block, Delitzsch, Keil), or that Laban had deviated from the original speech of his ancestors (Jerome, Augustine), or that" Laban and Jacob both used the same language with some growing dialectic differences (Gosman in Lange, Inglis), Laban simply on this occasion giving the heap a name which would be known to the inhabitants of the district (Wordsworth), seems impossible to determine with certainty. The most that ran be reasonably inferred from the term Jegar-sahadutha is that Aramaic was the language of Mesopotamia (Rosenm besides this expression there is no other e vide nce that Laban and Jacob conversed in different dialects; while it is certain that the word Mizpah, which was probably also spoken by Laban, is not Chaldee or Aramaic but Hebrew.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v49 The Lord watch between me and thee.
Gen_31:49-55
The Lord watch between me and thee.
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--
Lessons
1. Injurious persons are most apt to suspect the innocent for doing wrong.
2. Wicked men would not have others wrong their children though they do it themselves.
3. Nature denieth polygamy though mens lusts design and plead for it.
4. Want of human witness to require fealty is no ground of breaking covenant security.
5. God Himself is witness to the covenants of men, and will see right to be done by them or judge for it.
6. The most fraudulent men may be strict upon others to press on them the testimony of God (Gen_31:50). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Treacherous, deceitful men are most fearful of hurt pursuing them. So Laban.
2. Guilty fear makes men solicitous and intent to save themselves.
3. Sinful solicitousness for safety is full of words to little purpose (Gen_31:51).
4. Jealousy groundless contents not itself with Gods witness, but will have visible assurance.
5. Wickedness may sometimes be content not to do harm to others when it is afraid itself.
6. The most injurious are most solicitous to secure themselves from the innocent, who think no harm unto them (Gen_31:52). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. An oath of God is a just means of confirmation to a lawful covenant for setting things out of doubt.
2. Superstitious men, though convinced of the true way of God, yet worship and swear in old corrupt ways.
3. Oaths taken by false gods, or the true in false ways, are yet binding.
4. in making peace with idolaters it is lawful to take their corrupt swearing, but net to follow it.
5. True saints, when called to swear, must do it in the true fear of the true God.
6. It is just for saints to glorify God by swearing in just cases and making Him Judge (Gen_31:53). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. It is suitable unto a day of peacemaking for Gods servants to make a feast.
2. The spirits of good men are free and ingenious even to such as have been adversaries to them.
3. Friendly invitations and communion are the best issue of hot debates.
4. The power of God so overrules as to make persecutors sleep under the shelter of such whom they have oppressed (Gen_31:54). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. The purposes of wicked men are not in their own hands to effect them. Laban goeth changed home.
2. Furious pursuits of the innocent God turneth to early departures of their enemies.
3. Overruling Providence can make unnatural men show natural affection.
4. Wicked men are convinced there cometh good to men only from the blessing of God.
5. Ungodly ones may use forms of blessing when yet they can procure none from God.
6. God turns oppressors to their own with rebukes who thirsted after the possessions of the innocent (Gen_31:55). So God delivereth His out of temptations. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Mizpah
I. The ordinary use of this word is not quite the same as its original use. It is generally used as a kind of bond or link between parted friends; whereas it was first used as a SAFEGUARD AND WARNING between two men who were in some sort enemies, or, at least, but doubtful friends, and one of them very suspicious of the other.
1. When two men part, as Laban and Jacob parted, and their circumstances are such that, while absent from one another, one of them, or perhaps each of them, will have it in his power to injure the other in any way, in such a case let this word act as a wholesome warning: Mizpah, a beacon or watch-tower. The Lord Himself is such. He overlooks all.
2. A servant must often be free from the ken of master or mistress. But there is an eye on that servant always--the all-seeing eye of God. He stands as a watch-tower between servant and master or mistress, marking and judging how each fulfils his part. Is the master or mistress kind, just, considerate? Is the servant faithful and true, honest, upright, diligent?
3. Men have many dealings with one another in business. The Lord stands and overlooks each bargain.
II. But though the original application of the word was such, yet it may very well be applied also in that other way in which it is so often used. When those who love one another are called to part--when friends, for instance, go from each other, when brothers and sisters separate, when children leave home, when even a husband is called to a distance, perhaps to a foreign land, and that for a long time--it is A GREAT COMFORT to remember that the Lord is as a watch-tower between those thus parted. The closest and dearest of all bonds is that of having one Father, one Saviour, one Spirit, one hope now, one eternal home hereafter. Those thus united are hardly absent, even when parted in the body. (F. Bourdillon, M. A.)
Mizpah tokens
Tokens and memorials are not without use. The Mizpah on seal or ring, on locket or in book, may well bring to mind those absent, and even serve to draw the thoughts to God. The daughter, whose home is among strangers, will think of the fond mother who made that parting gift, and whose wish and prayer seems to be contained in that little word. The son, far off in a foreign land, carries with him a memorial of the same kind; and when he reads that word his thoughts go back to the home of his childhood, a father and mothers loving words and earnest prayers come back to his mind, his heart is softened, and he remembers Him who is above all, whose eye is in every place, and now watches over both him and those at home. (F. Bourdillon, M. A.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v47 Chald, the heap of witness.
Jegarsahadutha
Chald, the heap of witness.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v48 This pile is a witness between me and you
This pile is a witness between me and you
The stones do not actually bear witness as a person. AT: "This pile will be a reminder between me and you" (See: Personification)
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Galeed
Translators may add a footnote that says: "The name Galeed means 'heap of witness' in Jacob's language. See how you translated this in Genesis 31:47. (See: How to Translate Names)
Mizpah
Translators may add a footnote that says: "The name Mizpah means 'watchtower.'" (See: How to Translate Names)
when we are out of sight one from another
Here "out of sight" stands for no longer being in each other's presence. AT: "when we are no longer with each other" (See: Metonymy)
although no one else is with us
Here "us" refers to Laban and Jacob. AT: "even if no one else is there to see us"
see
"look" or "remember" or "pay attention to what i am about to tell you"
translationWords
Laban
testimony
Yahweh
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v49 31:49 The witness pile was also called watchtower. God…
31:49 The witness pile was also called watchtower. God would watch over Jacob and Laban and keep them apart, for they could not trust each other.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.