What Is Ambo in the Bible?
Object
The fixed stand near the altar from which the readings and the Gospel are read at Mass.
It can mean
- From there: at Mass with the people, the readings are always proclaimed from the ambo.
- In the Bible: Ezra the scribe read the Law to the people standing on a wooden platform.
Where it appears in the Bible
Nehemiah 8:4; Nehemiah 8:8
What the Bible says
Nehemiah 8:4
And Esdras the scribe stood upon a step of wood, which he had made to speak upon, and there stood by him Mathathias, and Semeia, and Ania, and Uria, and Helcia, and Maasia, on his right hand: and on the left, Phadaia, Misael, and Melchia, and Hasum, and Hasbadana, Zacharia and Mosollam.
Nehemiah 8:8
And they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and plainly to be understood: and they understood when it was read.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: GIRM 58 and 309; Catechism 1184; RAE, “ambón”