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Genesis 31:47

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 31:47 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.
Genesis 31:47 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 31

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
44And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.
45And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
46And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: and they did eat there by the heap.
47And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.
48And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed:
49and Mizpah, for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
50If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha, etc.] 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, (<012520>Genesis 25:20) (<013120>Genesis 31:20,24), 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…”
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Sources and verification