Topic
Jair
15 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Numbers 32:41Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave 1. Son of Manasseh. Founder of twenty-three cities in Gilead
And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the small towns thereof, and called them Havoth-jair.
- Deuteronomy 3:14Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave 1. Son of Manasseh. Founder of twenty-three cities in Gilead
Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day.
- Esther 2:5Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave 3. A Benjamite
¶ Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
- Joshua 13:30Easton · ISBE · Nave 1. Son of Manasseh. Founder of twenty-three cities in Gilead
And their coast was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities:
- Judges 10:3–5Easton · Smith · Nave 2. A judge of Israel
¶ And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died,…
- 1 Kings 4:13Easton · ISBE · Nave 1. Son of Manasseh. Founder of twenty-three cities in Gilead
The son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:
- 1 Chronicles 2:22Easton · ISBE · Nave 1. Son of Manasseh. Founder of twenty-three cities in Gilead
And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead.
- 1 Chronicles 2:23Easton · Smith · Nave 1. Son of Manasseh. Founder of twenty-three cities in Gilead
And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead.
- 1 Chronicles 20:5Easton · ISBE · Nave 4. Father of Elhanan
And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver’s beam.
- Judges 10:3ISBE
¶ And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.
- Judges 10:4ISBE
And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
- 2 Samuel 21:19ISBE
And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
Show 3 more
- 1 Chronicles 2:21 ISBE
- 1 Chronicles 20:6 Smith
- Esther 11:2 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 9 references
Enlightener. (1.) The son of Segub. He was brought up with his mother in Gilead, where he had possessions (1 Chr. 2:22). He distinguished himself in an expedition against Bashan, and settled in the part of Argob on the borders of Gilead. The small towns taken by him there are called Havoth-jair, i.e., “Jair’s villages” (Num. 32:41; Deut. 3:14; Josh. 13:30).
(2.) The eighth judge of Israel, which he ruled for twenty-two years. His opulence is described in Judg. 10:3-5. He had thirty sons, each riding on “ass colts.” They had possession of thirty of the sixty cities (1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chr. 2:23) which formed the ancient Havoth-jair.
(3.) A Benjamite, the father of Mordecai, Esther’s uncle (Esther 2:5).
(4.) The father of Elhanan, who slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath (1 Chr. 20:5).
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 6 references
- A man who on his father’s side was descended from Judah, and on his mother’s from Manasseh. (B.C. 1451.) During, the conquest he took the whole of the tract of Argob (3:14) and in addition possessed himself of some nomad villages in Gilead, which he called after his own name Havoth-Jair. (Numbers 32:41; 1 Chronicles 2:23)
- JAIR THE GILEADITE, who judged Israel for two-and-twenty years. (Judges 10:3-5) (B.C. 1160.) He had thirty sons, and possessed thirty cities in the land of Gilead, which like those of their namesakes were called Havoth-jair.
- A Benjamite, son of Kish and father of Mordecai. (Esther 2:5) (B.C. before 598.)
- The father of Elhanan, one of the heroes of David’s army. (1 Chronicles 20:6)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 13 references
ja'-er:
(1) Jair (ya'ir, "he enlightens" or "one giving light"):
(a) Son, i.e. descendant of Manasseh (Nu 32:41; De 3:14; Jos 13:30; 1Ki 4:13; 1Ch 2:22 f). According to 1Ch 2:21 f he was the son of ScRub, son of Hezron, a descendant of Judah, who married the daughter of Machir, son of Manasseh. He was thus descended both from Judah and Manasseh. At the time of the conquest he distinguished himself by taking the tent-villages HAVVOTH-JAIR (which see). The accounts of his exploit are difficult to harmonize (see ICC on above passages). Some would identify him with the Jair of Jud 10:3, holding that Manasseh's settlement in Northern Gilead and Bashan took place, not before Israel's passage of the Jordan, but after the settlement of the tribe on the West. For a criticism of this view see HGHL, 577, note
(b) One of the judges. He is said to have had 30 sons, who rode on 30 ass colts, and who had as many cities, known as Havvoth-jair (Jud 10:3,4). One tradition identifies (a) and (b). Others reconcile the two narratives by interpreting the word "son" in a non-literal sense.
(c) The father of Mordecai (Es 2:5). In the Apocrypha (Additions to Esther 11:2) his name is given as "Jairus" (Iaeiros).
(2) Jair (Qere: ya`ir, "he arouses"; Kethibh: ya`ur; a different name from (1) above): The father of Elhanan, the giant-slayer (1Ch 20:5). In the parallel passage (2Sa 21:19) his name is given as "Jaare-oregim," but the text should be corrected to Jair, "oregim" ('oreghim) having crept in from the line below through a copyist's error.
James Crichton
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.