Numbers 32:41

Summary

The verse reports that Jair, identified as ben ("son of", H1121) Manasseh, went and captured a group of villages belonging to unspecified previous occupants, then renamed those villages after himself, calling them Chavvot Ya'ir ("Villages/Tent-camps of Jair", H2334).

Key words

• ya.'Ir ("Jair", H2971) — proper name, both the conqueror (v.41a) and later the toponym derived from him (v.41b, H2334), showing the same consonantal root reused for person and place.
• ha.Lakh ("he went", H1980) — qal perfect, a completed, independent action that opens the sentence before the narrative chain begins.
• i.yil.Kod ("he captured", H3920) — qal wayyiqtol (narrative form), linked to the previous verb by the narrative vav (H9001), marking the next sequential event ("and then he captured").
• cha.vo.tei.Hem ("their villages", H2333 + suffix H9028) — feminine plural construct with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, referring to the settlements as they existed before Jair's renaming.
• i.yik.Ra' ("he called", H7121) — qal wayyiqtol, continuing the narrative chain: after going and capturing, the third action is naming.

What the text says

The clause structure follows a typical Biblical Hebrew narrative pattern: a perfect verb (halakh) establishes the initiating action, followed by two wayyiqtol verbs (yilkod, yiqra) chained with the narrative vav, producing a sequence — "he went, and he captured, and he called." The subject, Ya'ir ben Menashsheh, is stated once at the start and governs all three verbs.

The object of capture is chavvoteihem ("their villages", H2333 with 3rd masculine plural suffix), a feminine plural construct noun marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853). After capturing, Jair renames these same settlements Chavvot Ya'ir (H2334), replacing the third-person plural suffix "their" with his own name in construct form. The Hebrew text thus shows a wordplay: the common noun chavvot ("villages" or "tent-villages") first appears possessed by unnamed prior inhabitants, then reappears as part of a proper toponym bearing Jair's name — the same noun root serving both as common noun and as place-name element.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew simply states the new name Chavvot Ya'ir without further comment. The Vulgate renders this as "Havoth Jair, id est, Villas Jair," adding an explanatory gloss ("that is, the villages of Jair") not present in the Hebrew or the Septuagint's Greek text, which instead translates the noun directly as ἐπαύλεις ("farmsteads/villages") combined with the name Ἰαείρ.