The kind of supplementary material in this verse, which may originate from oral sources, is contained in the descriptions of some of the other minor judges (see, for example, verse 12.9).

And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty asses; and they had thirty cities: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And serves to add information about this judge. Translators can retain or omit it. The three occurrences of the numeral thirty give this passage the flavor of a folktale. This number also appears in the description of other minor judges (see verse 12.9, verse 14). Though thirty sons may be considered a large number, in polygamous societies this is certainly not unusual. The Hebrew word for sons may refer to children, but it is common in the Bible for only the sons to be in view.

The Hebrew term for asses (ʿayir) is rare and is not the same one used earlier in verse 1.14. This word is probably used here because it creates a play on words with the word for cities (ʿir). Who rode on thirty asses does not just indicate their mode of transportation. In the Ancient Near East riding a donkey was a symbol of leadership and prosperity, as kings, nobles, and the rich used this mode of transportation. Saying that each son had his own donkey is a way of saying all the sons were rich and important. Contemporary English Version includes a footnote to explain this. Some translators may wish to make this idea explicit in the text by beginning with “Jair had thirty sons, all important men, who each rode his own donkey….”

Instead of thirty cities, the Hebrew text has “thirty asses.” This repetition is clearly a case of an error that is introduced into the text when the copyist mistakes a word for one nearby. Here the Hebrew word for “asses” (ʿayarim) has been written in the place of the word for cities (ʿarim). The only difference between these two Hebrew nouns is the letter y. In cases of such an error translators should follow the emended text, which is cities here. These cities were not large, so they can be called “towns” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible) or even “villages” (Parole de Vie).

Called Havvoth-jair to this day: Each of Jair’s sons ruled over a town, and their group of thirty towns was known as Havvoth-jair (meaning “the settlements of Jair”). Revised Standard Version transliterates the Hebrew word for Havvoth, but many versions translate it. For example, Good News Translation has “the villages of Jair.” Translation is probably better than transliteration here. As elsewhere (verse 1.21), to this day refers to the time of the writer or editor. The name Havvoth-jair is does not refer to any modern city, so we might avoid such a misunderstanding by saying “from that time onward” or “for a long time afterward.”

Which are in the land of Gilead refers to the thirty cities. They were in Gilead (see verse 5.17), which was on the east side of the Jordan River in the territory of Manasseh. This clause may be rendered as an independent one, or it may be attached more closely to thirty cities by saying “thirty towns in Gilead.”

A translation model for this verse is:

• Jair had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. They were important men, who ruled over thirty towns in Gilead. For years, this region was called “the settlements of Jair.”

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .