Nebo (also spelled Nabu) is not a biblical figure but a Babylonian god mentioned in the Bible, especially in the writings of the prophet Isaiah. He was the god of wisdom and writing in the Babylonian pantheon, son of Marduk (Merodach). His name also appears as part of Babylonian royal names such as Nebuchadnezzar and Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, and in the Bible references to Nebo are used to show God's superiority over idols.
Événements clés
Nebo Bows Down
The prophet Isaiah describes how the Babylonian idols Bel and Nebo will bow down and fall, unable to save themselves, in contrast to Israel's living God.
4Even to your old age I am the same, and to your gray hairs I will carry you. I have made you, and I will bear you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
6They pour out gold from the purse and weigh silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and then they kneel and bow down to it.
7They lift it to their shoulders and haul it; they set it in its place, and there it stands—it cannot move from its spot. Someone cries out to it, and it does not answer; it cannot save him from his distress.
Nebo is also the name of the mountain from which Moses saw the Promised Land before he died. Mount Nebo is located in Moab and is an important site in Israel's history.
49"Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their possession.
1Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan,
4Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross over into it."
Nebo is mentioned as a city in the land of Moab that was captured by the Israelites and later referred to by the prophets in oracles of judgment against Moab.
1Concerning Moab. This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is disgraced and captured; the stronghold is disgraced and shattered.
After the Babylonian exile, men from the town of Nebo are mentioned among those who returned to Judah, as well as some from Nebo who had taken foreign wives.