John Gill's Exposition on Genesis 31:47

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

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 Jacob could very well understand each other, as appears by their discourse together, these being but dialects of the same tongue.

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