NIBHAZ nĭb’ hăz (נִבְחַ֖ז). An idol of the Syrian Avvites which they worshiped with Tartak and introduced into Samaria (2 Kings 17:31). The Avvites were brought to Samaria by Sargon after 722 b.c. Montgomery (ICC Commentary on Kings, pp. 474, 479) explains the word as identical with מִזְבֵּחַ, H4640, “altar,” the pronunciation having been changed by assimilation. It could mean then a deified altar. J. Gray (“Nibhaz,” The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, III, 546) notes that the deification of the altar is paralleled by the deification of the house of God attested in the Aram. papyri from Elephantine.

Jewish tradition, according to Montgomery (op. cit., p. 474) attempted an abusive etymology. Assuming that the root of the word meant “bark like a dog,” it was inferred that the idol was the likeness of a dog.