Ja´ir (enlightener), son of Segub, of the tribe of Manasseh by his mother, and of Judah by his father. He appears to have distinguished himself in an expedition against the kingdom of Bashan, the time of which is disputed, but may probably be referred to the last year of the life of Moses, B.C. 1451. It seems to have formed part of the operations connected with the conquest of the country east of the Jordan. He settled in the part of Argob bordering on Gilead, where we find twenty-three villages named collectively Havoth-jair, or 'Jair's villages' (;;; ).
Jair, 2
Jair, eighth judge of Israel, of Gilead, in Manasseh, beyond the Jordan; and, therefore, probably descended from the preceding, with whom, indeed, he is sometimes confounded. He ruled twenty-two years, and his opulence is indicated in a manner characteristic of the age in which he lived. 'He had thirty sons, that rode on thirty ass-colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair, in the land of Gilead.' The twenty-three villages of the more ancient Jair were probably among the thirty which this Jair possessed (). B.C. 1210.