Nebaioth ( Nəḇāyōṯ; ) or Nebajoth is mentioned at least five times in the Hebrew Bible, according to which he was the firstborn son of Ishmael, and the name appears as the name of one of the wilderness tribes mentioned in the Book of Genesis 25:13, and in the Book of Isaiah 60:7.

Biblical occurrences

In the Book of Genesis, Nebaioth is listed as the firstborn son of Ishmael: Nebaioth is portrayed as the brother of Mahalath, one of Esau's wives: Nebaioth is again mentioned as Ishmael's firstborn in the genealogies of the First Book of Chronicles: In the Book of Isaiah, Nebaioth is mentioned along with his brother Kedar:

Extra-biblical occurrences

Josephus, the Jewish historian of the Roman era, described the descendants of Ishmael as Arabs, linking them with the historical Nabataeans of Hellenistic and Roman times (Jewish Antiquities 1.12.4): "twelve sons in all were born to Ishmael, Nabaioth(es), Kedar, Abdeêl, Massam, Masma, Idum(as), Masmes, Chodam, Thaiman, Jetur, Naphais, Kadmas. These occupied the whole country extending from the Euphrates to the Red Sea and called it Nabatene. And it is these who conferred their names on the Arabian nation (to tōn Arabōn ethnos) and its tribes." The identification of the Arabs as Ishmaelites has also been expressed by Apollonius Molon and Origen, and was later adopted by Eusebius and Jerome. Some modern historians reject any connection of the Nabataeans to the "tribe of Nebaioth". Classical Arab historians sometimes name Nebaioth as an ancestor of Muhammad. However the majority of traditions point to Kedar, another son of Ishmael, as his ancestor.