Tel-abib

Tel-abib (Hebrew for "mound of the flood" or "mound of grain"; cf. Akkadian til abubi, "mound of the deluge") was a settlement of Jewish exiles beside the Chebar canal in Babylonia. Ezekiel went there after his inaugural vision of the divine chariot to minister to the captive community: "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days" (Ezek. 3:15). The place name was revived in 1909 when the first modern Hebrew city was established near Jaffa and named Tel Aviv ("Hill of Spring"), drawing on Ezekiel's text.