Dibon
דִּיבֹן
Where was biblical Dibon? At Tall Dhiban, beside the town of Dhiban, in Jordan, about 50 km south of Amman. I mark it certain.
King Mesha of Moab ruled from Dibon, threw off Israel's rule, and set up a stone here to boast about it.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tall Dhiban, beside the town of Dhiban, in Jordan
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Dibon-gad, Dhiban, Tall Dhiban
- Location
- 31.4982° N, 35.7799° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Arab town beside the tell is called Dhiban. That alone would make a good case. Then in 1868 a stone turned up here that settles it. On the Mesha Stele the king calls himself "the Dibonite" and tells of his revolt against Israel. The Book of Kings tells the same revolt from Israel's side. It is one of the few places where a king of Israel is named outside the Bible.
The location fits the text. Dibon sits on the Moabite tableland, just a few miles north of the Arnon, right where the Bible's town lists put it. Israel camped at "Dibon-gad" on its last march to the plains of Moab, and the tribe of Gad rebuilt Dibon together with Ataroth and Aroer. The old victory song over Sihon pairs it with Heshbon.
By the time of the prophets, Dibon was a Moabite town again. Isaiah has Dibon go up to its shrines to weep. Jeremiah tells the people of Dibon to come down from their glory and sit in thirst.
Excavators here found Iron Age building from the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, the age of Mesha. Above it lie Nabatean, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic remains.
Visiting today
Tall Dhiban is an open tell beside the town, with exposed walls and a Nabatean temple area. The Mesha Stele itself is in the Louvre, and a replica is shown in Jordan.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Dibon on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Aroer on the Arnon 5 km southeast
- Medeba 25 km north
- The Dead Sea (Salt Sea) 28 km west
- Mount Nebo 30 km north
- Beth Jeshimoth 32 km north
- Heshbon 34 km north