Person Old Testament
Jair
Also known as Jairite
Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured the region of Gilead. Mentioned in 5 verses across 5 books, first at Numbers 32:41.
Why it matters. Manassite leader who captured Gilead
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Jair
Jair was a descendant of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, who played a significant role in the conquest and settlement of the region east of the Jordan River. According to Num.32.41 and Deu.3.14, Jair captured the settlements in Gilead and named them Havvoth-jair, which means "the towns of Jair." 1Ch.2.22 states that Jair controlled twenty-three cities in Gilead. In 2Sa.20.26, a person named Ira the Jairite is mentioned as one of David's officials, possibly indicating that Jair's descendants continued to hold influential positions. 1Ki.4.13 refers to the towns of Jair in the context of Solomon's administrative districts, suggesting that the region remained associated with Jair's name long after his lifetime.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Parents
- Segub
Appears in Scripture
Named in 5 verses across 5 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.