Nabau

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Nabau (Nabo, Nebo) is a town mentioned in several passages of the Old Testament: Numbers 32:3; Jeremias 48:1, 22; I Chronicles 5:8; Isaias 15:2, etc.

In Numbers 32:3, it is mentioned between Saban and Beon, the latter being an abbreviation of Baal-meon. In the same chapter, verse 38, it is again mentioned between Cariathaim and Baalmeon, and it is found associated with the same names on the Mesa Stone (line 14). These and other indications show that the town was situated in the vicinity of Mount Nebo, but the precise location cannot be determined. It belonged to the rich pasture lands which the tribes of Ruben and Gad asked of Moses in the distribution of the territory (Numbers 32). The town had reverted to the Moabites at the time when Isaias prophesied against it (Isaiah 15:2; cf. Jeremiah 48:1, 22). Mesa (lines 14-18) boasts of having taken it from the Israelites. According to Saint Jerome (Comment. in Isaias 15:2, in P.L., XXIV, 168), the sanctuary of the idol Chemosh was in Nabau.

This article incorporates text from the entry Nabo (Nebo) in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.