Genesis 31:47-49

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 31:47 sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”
2. Genesis 31:47 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.
3. Genesis 31:48 tn Heb “a witness between me and you.”
4. Genesis 31:49 tn Heb “and Mizpah.”
5. Genesis 31:49 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.
6. Genesis 31:49 tn Heb “between me and you.”
7. Genesis 31:49 tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”