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Bible Dictionaries
Nebo
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Ne'bo. (prophet).
1. A town of Reuben, on the east side of Jordan. Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:38. In the remarkable prophecy adopted by Isaiah, Isaiah 15:2, and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 48:26, concerning Moab, Nebo is mentioned in the same connection as before, but in the hands of Moab.
Eusebius and Jerome identify it with Nobah or Kerrath, and place it eight miles south of Heshbon, where the ruins of el-Habis appear to stand at present. (Professor Paine identifies it with some ruins on Mount Nebo, a mile south of its summit, and Dr. Robinson seems to agree with this. - Editor).
2. The children of Nebo, returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:29; Ezra 10:43; Nehemiah 7:33. The name occurs between Bethel and Ai and Lydda, which implies that it was situated in the territory of Benjamin, to the northwest of Jerusalem. This is possibly the modern Beit-Nubah, about 12 miles northwest by west of Jerusalem, 8 miles from Lydda.
3. Nebo, which occurs both in Isaiah, Isaiah 46:11, and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 45:1, as the name of a Chaldean god, is a well known deity of the Babylonians and Assyrians. He was the god, who presided over learning and letters. His general character corresponds to that of the Egyptian, Thoth; the Greek, Hermes; and the Latin, Mercury.
Astronomically, he is identified with the planet nearest the sun. In Babylonia, Nebo held a prominent place from an early time. The ancient town of Borsippa was especially under his protection, and the great temple here, the modern Birs-Nimrud, was dedicated to him, from a very remote age. He was the tutelar god of the most important Babylonian kings, in whose names the word, Nabu or Nebo, appears as an element.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Nebo'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/n/nebo.html. 1901.
