Person Old and New Testament
Abel
Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd who was killed by his brother Cain. Mentioned in 9 verses across 4 books, first at Genesis 4:2.
Why it matters. Adam and Eve's second son, killed by Cain
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Abel
Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve, born after his brother Cain. He was a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. Both brothers brought offerings to God, but God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's. This led to Cain's jealousy and anger, and he killed Abel in a field.
God confronted Cain about Abel's murder, and as a result, Cain was cursed to be a wanderer on the earth. The New Testament references Abel as an example of faith (Heb.11.4) and as a righteous man whose blood cried out for justice (Mat.23.35; Luk.11.51). Abel's blood is also contrasted with the blood of Jesus, which speaks of better things (Heb.12.24). After Abel's death, Adam and Eve had another son named Seth.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 9 verses across 4 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.