A strong city on the border of upper Galilee in northern Israel.
The leader of King David's army, Joab, chased a man named Sheba to Abel. Sheba was fighting against David. A wise woman from Abel talked with Joab. After their talk, the people of Abel killed Sheba and threw his head over the city wall. Then Joab stopped attacking the city (2 Samuel 20:13–22).
Later, the city was conquered by the Syrian King Ben-hadad during a war between King Asa of Judah and King Baasha of Israel. When Asa persuaded Ben-hadad to break his agreement with Baasha, Ben-hadad took a large amount of land, including Abel, called Abel-beth-maacah (1 Kings 15:16–20).
Sometime later, Tiglath-pileser III took Abel-beth-maacah, also called Abel of Beth-maacah, or Abel of Beth-maachah. The people who lived there were taken as prisoners to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29).
Abel is sometimes called Abel-maim (“meadow of water”). The name shows the city was surrounded by fertile land (2 Chronicles 16:4). The town has been identified with modern Tell Abil-el-Qamh.