Nebo, Chaldean god

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, and you can find more about that here on st-takla.org on other commentaries and dictionary entries. 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.

* See other occurrences of the same term: Nebo.