Genesis 28:18-19

28:18 Early ¹  in the morning Jacob ²  took the stone he had placed near his head ³  and set it up as a sacred stone. ⁴  Then he poured oil on top of it. 28:19 He called that place Bethel, ⁵  although the former name of the town was Luz.

Genesis 31:45-52

31:45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar. 31:46 Then he ⁶  said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they brought stones and put them in a pile. ⁷  They ate there by the pile of stones. 31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, ⁸  but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁹ 

31:48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement ¹⁰  today.” That is why it was called Galeed. 31:49 It was also called Mizpah ¹¹  because he said, “May the Lord watch ¹²  between us ¹³  when we are out of sight of one another. ¹⁴  31:50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one else is with us, realize ¹⁵  that God is witness to your actions.” ¹⁶ 

31:51 “Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you,” Laban said to Jacob. ¹⁷  31:52 “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 35:14

35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. ¹⁹  He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. ²⁰ 

Joshua 4:9

4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones ²¹  in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.

Joshua 4:20-24

4:20 Now Joshua set up in Gilgal the ²²  twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan. 4:21 He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’ ²³  4:22 explain ²⁴  to your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River ²⁵  on dry ground.’ 4:23 For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you while you crossed over. It was just like when the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us while we crossed it. ²⁶  4:24 He has done this so ²⁷  all the nations ²⁸  of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power ²⁹  and so you might always obey ³⁰  the Lord your God.”

Joshua 24:26-27

24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. ³¹  It will be a witness against you if ³²  you deny your God.”

Isaiah 19:19

19:19 At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar ³³  dedicated to the Lord at its border.

[28:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.”

[28:18]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:18]  ³ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11.

[28:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “standing stone.”

[28:19]  ⁵ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

[31:46]  ⁶ tn Heb “Jacob”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:46]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew word for “pile” is גַּל (gal), which sounds like the name “Galeed” (גַּלְעֵד, gal’ed). See v. 48.

[31:47]  ⁸ sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”

[31:47]  ⁹ sn Galeed also means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness,” but this name is Canaanite or Western Semitic and closer to later Hebrew. Jacob, though certainly capable of speaking Aramaic, here prefers to use the western dialect.

[31:48]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a witness between me and you.”

[31:49]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and Mizpah.”

[31:49]  ¹² sn The name Mizpah (מִצְפָּה, mitspah), which means “watchpost,” sounds like the verb translated “may he watch” (יִצֶף, yitsef). Neither Laban nor Jacob felt safe with each other, and so they agreed to go their separate ways, trusting the Lord to keep watch at the border. Jacob did not need this treaty, but Laban, perhaps because he had lost his household gods, felt he did.

[31:49]  ¹³ tn Heb “between me and you.”

[31:49]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”

[31:50]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “see.”

[31:50]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “between me and you.”

[31:51]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Laban said to Jacob, ‘Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between men and you.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:52]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “This pile is a witness and the pillar is a witness, if I go past this pile to you and if you go past this pile and this pillar to me for harm.”

[35:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and Jacob set up a sacred pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a sacred pillar of stone” (see the notes on the term “sacred stone” in Gen 28:18). This passage stands parallel to Gen 28:18-19, where Jacob set up a sacred stone, poured oil on it, and called the place Bethel. Some commentators see these as two traditions referring to the same event, but it is more likely that Jacob reconsecrated the place in fulfillment of the vow he had made here earlier. In support of this is the fact that the present narrative alludes to and is built on the previous one.

[35:14]  ²⁰ tn The verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “to pour out, to make libations,” and the noun נֶסֶךְ (nesekh) is a “drink-offering,” usually of wine or of blood. The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out,” often of anointing oil, but of other elements as well.

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Here “also” has been supplied in the translation to make it clear (as indicated by v. 20) that these are not the same stones the men took from the river bed.

[4:20]  ²² tn Heb “these,” referring specifically to the twelve stones mentioned in vv. 3-7.

[4:21]  ²³ tn Heb “What are these stones?”

[4:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “make known.”

[4:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “crossed this Jordan”; the word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[4:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “just as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea when he dried [it] up before us while we crossed over.”

[4:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in order that.”

[4:24]  ²⁸ tn Or “peoples.”

[4:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “know the hand of the Lord that it is strong.”

[4:24]  ³⁰ tn Heb “fear.”

[24:27]  ³¹ tn Heb “all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us.”

[24:27]  ³² tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”

[19:19]  ³³ tn This word is sometimes used of a sacred pillar associated with pagan worship, but here it is associated with the worship of the Lord.