Bible Locations

Buz was an Arabian tribe and its territory, mentioned in Jeremiah 25:23 among the nations that would drink the cup of God's wrath: "Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places." Some translations say "all who clip the hair by their foreheads," describing a desert custom. Buz was a son of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Genesis 22:21), which links the tribe to Abraham's wider family. Elihu, the young man who spoke to Job after his three friends, was "Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite" (Job 32:2). Assyrian records of King Esarhaddon, around 676 BC, describe a campaign against a land called Bazu, deep in the Arabian desert, which may be the same place. So Buz was probably in northern Arabia, near Dedan and Tema, oasis towns on the incense routes. Its people were likely herders and traders living in tents in the desert.