Bible Strands
1 Kings 4:13
Ben-geber in Ramoth-gilead (the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead belonged to him, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan with its sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Solomon’s administrative appointments, listing Ben-geber as the official appointed over Ramoth-gilead. This verse functions as a geographic and administrative marker between the jurisdictions of Baana and Ahinadab.
The words — The text identifies the official as בֶּן־גֶּבֶר (ben-geber), literally “son of a man” or “Ben-geber,” and notes his territory includes חֲוֹתֹת (chavotot), meaning “villages” or “encampments.” These terms anchor his authority to specific settlements rather than a single fortified center.
The thread — The region of Argob and its sixty cities appears in Deuteronomy 3:4 as part of the conquered territory, while Numbers 32:41 records Jair son of Manasseh capturing its villages. The city of Ramoth-gilead later becomes a contested strategic location in 1 Kings 22:3.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of how Solomon’s administrative system repurposed earlier tribal territories and conquered lands into a structured bureaucracy. It requires the reader to track how geographic names carry historical weight into new political arrangements.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The son of Geber, in Ramoth–gilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:
Cross-references
- Numbers 32:41 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their villages and called them Havvoth-jair.
- Deuteronomy 3:4 At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
- 1 Kings 22:3 who said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”
- Deuteronomy 3:8 At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon—
- Deuteronomy 3:13 To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.)
- Deuteronomy 4:43 Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
- Joshua 20:8 And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the wilderness plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
- Joshua 21:38 And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,
- 2 Kings 9:1 Now Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Kings 9:14 Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,