Abila (Arabic: ابيلا‎) was an ancient city east of the Jordan River in Moab, later Peraea, near Livias, about twelve km northeast of the north shore of the Dead Sea.[citation needed] The site is identified with modern Abil-ez-Zeit, Jordan.[citation needed] There is a widely supported theory that in the Hebrew Bible, it is referred to as Abel-Shittim, as well as in the shorter forms Shittim and Ha-Shittim.[citation needed]