Encyclopedia entry
Jair
Disambiguation
The source enumerates 4 distinct subjects under Jair. Jump to one below, or read in order.
Enlightener.
Jair (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).
Jair (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.
Jair (3)
#A Benjamite, the father of Mordecai, Esther’s uncle (Esther 2:5).
Jair (4)
#The father of Elhanan, who slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath (1 Chr. 20:5).
Also from Smith's (1884) +−
(enlightener).
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)
In the Bible
12
Verses where Jair is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- 1 Chronicles 2:22
Segub was the father of Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.
- 1 Chronicles 2:23
But Geshur and Aram captured Havvoth-jair, along with Kenath and its sixty surrounding villages. All these were descendants of Machir the father of Gilead.
- 1 Chronicles 20:5
Once again there was a battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
- 1 Kings 4:13
Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
- 2 Samuel 21:19
Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
- Deuteronomy 3:14
Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.
+6 more verses naming Jair.
Scripture on Jair
9
See all 9 +−
Entries that reference Jair
13
Jair references
18
Voices on Jair
3
Surfaced by name match — accuracy varies by title clarity.
Sources · Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869) · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884)
Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.