JAAZER or JAZER (; in I Chron. xxvi. 31 = "he will help"): A
city east of the Jordan, in or near Gilead (Num. xxxii. 1, 3; I
Chron. l.c.), and inhabited by the Amorites. It was taken by a
special expedition sent by Moses to conquer it (Num. xxi. 32).
From the Septuagint, which reads Ἰαζήρ for in Num. xxi. 24, it
appears that Jaazer was on the border of Ammon. As an important
city it gave its name to the whole of the surrounding territory
(ib. xxxii. 1). Even a "sea of Jaazer" is mentioned in Jer.
xlviii. 32 (but comp. the Septuagint rendering πολις Ιαζήρ,
probably due to reading instead of ). Jaazer is stated to have
been a fertile land fit for the raising of cattle (ib.) and a
place having many vineyards (Isa. xvi. 8, 9; Jer. l.c.). It was
occupied by the children of Gad (Josh. xiii. 25; I Chron. xxvi.
31), by which tribe it was allotted to the Merarite Levites
(Josh. xxi. 39; I Chron. vi. 66 [A. V. 81]). In the time of
David it seems to have been occupied by the Hebronites, who were
descendants of Kohath (I