And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took their villages: The conjunction And is better omitted (Good News Bible) or replaced by a more neutral connector such as “Now” (NET), since this verse does not give the next event after the previous one. Jair the son of Manasseh is better translated “Jair, of the tribe of Manasseh” (Good News Bible) or “The people of Jair, another clan of the tribe of Manasseh” (New Living Translation). Went and took may be rendered “attacked and captured” (Good News Bible; see verse 39). The referent for the pronoun their is not clear. The closest possible referents are “Gilead” (if viewed collectively) in verse 40 and “the Amorites” in verse 39, so their villages refers to “some villages in Gilead” (similarly NIRV) or “some villages of the Amorites.” Good News Bible omits the pronoun, saying “some villages.” Instead of their villages, Levine emends the text to read “the farming villages of Ham” (which has a difference of only one vowel in Hebrew). The land of Ham is mentioned in Gen 14.5, which was in the Transjordan, so it fits this context. Revised English Bible follows this reading by saying “the tent-villages of Ham.” The Hebrew word for villages is more accurately rendered “tent-villages” or “encampments” (New Jerusalem Bible).

And called them Havvoth-jair: Revised Standard Version gives the meaning of Havvoth-jair in a footnote, but Good News Bible puts its meaning in the translation itself, saying “Villages of Jair,” and so does Alter with “Jair’s Hamlets.” These renderings are more helpful, given the first part of the verse.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .