Havoth-Jair (Havvoth-Jair), or Havvot-Ya'ir is the name used by the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

to refer to a certain group or groups of villages on the east of the

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. In various biblical passages, the towns are identified as *60 towns in

Machir Machir or Makir ( ''Māḵîr'', "bartered") was the name of two figures in the Hebrew Bible: * Machir was the son of Manasseh, grandson of Joseph, and father of Gilead. Joseph lived to see and to play a part in the up-bringing of Machir and his ch ...

(the eastern half-tribe of

Manasseh Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier * Jacob Manasseh (die ...

) with Machir ancestry (Numbers 32:41, Deuteronomy 3:14) *33 villages in

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (; he, גִּלְעָד ''Gīləʿāḏ'', ar, جلعاد, Ǧalʻād, Jalaad) is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> Th ...

(Gad) with Machir ancestry (1 Kings 4:13, 1 Chronicles 2:22) *30 villages in Gilead with Gilead ancestry (Judges 10:4) The group in Machir are identified by the bible as having been well fortified with high walls and gates, and in the time of Solomon are said to have formed a part of Ben-geber's commissariat district. This group are clearly identified by the bible as having been the main towns of the

Argob The Lajat (/ALA-LC: ''al-Lajāʾ''), also spelled ''Lejat'', ''Lajah'', ''el-Leja'' or ''Laja'', is the largest lava field in southern Syria, spanning some 900 square kilometers. Located about southeast of Damascus, the Lajat borders the Hau ...

, a rocky region in the otherwise gentle plain of

Bashan Bashan (; he, הַבָּשָׁן, translit=ha-Bashan; la, Basan or ''Basanitis'') is the ancient, biblical name used for the northernmost region of the Transjordan during the Iron Age. It is situated in modern-day Syria. Its western part, now ...

, and having been originally ruled over by king Og, before Israelite dominion. The name ''Havoth-Jair'' can mean ''hamlets of Jair'', and the bible portrays these as having been founded by a person named Jair who conquered the previous towns and villages in these locations; in the case of the villages with Machir ancestry it is a

Jair In the Biblical Book of Judges, Jair or Yair ( he, יָאִיר ''Yā’īr'', "he enlightens") was a man from Gilead of the Tribe of Manasseh, east of the River Jordan, who judged Israel for 22 years, after the death of Tola, who had ruled of ...

named as a son of Manassah, while those with Gilead ancestry are identified as being founded by a Jair who is a Gileadite. It is thought possible that the three groups of towns in fact refer to the same set of places, but that the different reports of ancestry and locations reflect the geo-political circumstances of the towns and villages, in the time periods that each particular part of the bible were written.

References

{{reflist Hebrew Bible cities Gilead he:חות יאיר (אתר מקראי)