NEBO ne’ bō (נְבֹ֔ו, n^ebô, to call, announce, from which we have the name of the Babylonian deity; as a geographical location, from Arab. word denoting elevation or height).

1. Name of Babylonian deity in Isaiah’s taunt song on the downfall of Babylon (Isa 46:1). He was the god of wisdom and writing, and the patron-god of the Babylonian rulers. His center of worship was at Borsippa, SW of Babylon. The cult continued to flourish until the end of the neo-Babylonian period (612-538 b.c.). Originally he seems to have been identified with a water deity. In astronomy he was identified with the planet Mercury.

2. A Moabite town near or on Mount Nebo, requested by the Reubenites and Gadites (Num 32:3). It was rebuilt by the Reubenites (Num 32:38; 33:47; cf. 1 Chron 5:8). It was retaken by Mesha, king of Moab, who recorded his victory on the Moabite Stone; also mentioned in Isaiah 15:2 and Jeremiah 48:1, 22. Eusebius placed its location eight m. S of Heshbon.

3. A city in Judah mentioned just after Bethel and Ai (Ezra 2:29; Neh 7:33) which has been identified with Nuba, fifteen m. SW of Jerusalem.

4. Ancestor of certain Jews who had married foreign women. Ezra demanded that they put away these wives (Ezra 10:43).

5. Traditional burial place of Moses. (See Mount Nebo.)