Genesis 31:44-48

31:44 So now, come, let’s make a formal agreement, ¹  you and I, and it will be ²  proof that we have made peace.” ³ 

31:45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar. 31:46 Then he ⁴  said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they brought stones and put them in a pile. ⁵  They ate there by the pile of stones. 31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, ⁶  but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁷ 

31:48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement ⁸  today.” That is why it was called Galeed.

Genesis 31:52

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. ⁹ 

[31:44]  ¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[31:44]  ² tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) followed by the preposition לְ (lÿ) means “become.”

[31:44]  ³ tn Heb “and it will become a witness between me and you.”

[31:46]  ⁴ tn Heb “Jacob”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:46]  ⁵ sn The Hebrew word for “pile” is גַּל (gal), which sounds like the name “Galeed” (גַּלְעֵד, gal’ed). See v. 48.

[31:47]  ⁶ sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”

[31:47]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “a witness between me and you.”

[31:52]  ⁹ 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.”