NERGAL

(Nerʹgal) [lord of the great city].

A Babylonian deity especially worshiped at Cuthah, a city repeatedly referred to in ancient inscriptions as the “city of Nergal.” The people of Cuth (Cuthah), whom the king of Assyria settled in the territory of Samaria, continued worshiping this deity. (2 Ki. 17:24, 30, 33) Some authorities suggest that Nergal was originally associated with fire and the heat of the sun and that later he came to be regarded as a god of war and hunting as well as a bringer of pestilence. The fact that this deity is associated with hunting has given rise to the conjecture that Nergal represents the deified Nimrod, “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” (Gen. 10:9) The appellatives applied to Nergal in religious texts indicate that he was basically viewed as a destroyer. He is called “the raging king,” “the violent one” and “the one who burns.” Nergal also came to be regarded as the god of the underworld and the consort of Ereshkigal. The human-headed and winged lion is thought to have been the emblem of Nergal.

Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, one of King Nebuchadnezzar’s princes, was evidently named after this god.—Jer. 39:3, 13.