Hebrew word · H206

אָ֫וֶן

'aven

Aven

Trouble, harm, wickedness (especially deceitful or sorcerous evil, as in 'workers of 'aven' in the Psalms), and also emptiness, nothingness or futility. As used here, it is a mocking nickname for Bethel.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Aven = "vanity"

A town or region in Syria (Am 1:5)

a name used contemptuously a place of idolatrous worship

Combined with biq.ah (בִּקְעָה " Valley" H1237J)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Hosea 10:8

Range of meaning

Trouble, harm, wickedness (especially deceitful or sorcerous evil, as in 'workers of 'aven' in the Psalms), and also emptiness, nothingness or futility. As used here, it is a mocking nickname for Bethel.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, BSB and WEB keep 'Aven' as a proper name, which hides the insult. NIV translates it as 'wickedness', which keeps the meaning but loses the link to a real place.

How it drifted

Transliterating it as a name makes it look like an unknown town, so readers miss that Hosea is renaming the most prestigious sanctuary in the land.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hosea 4:15, 5:8 and 10:5 call Bethel 'Beth-aven'. Amos 5:5 puns similarly: 'Bethel shall become 'aven (nothing)'. In Ezekiel 30:17 the same consonants are vocalized 'Aven' for Egyptian On/Heliopolis, which explains the Septuagint's 'On' here. Joshua 7:2 mentions a real Beth-aven near Bethel, which may have supplied the pun.

Where it appears

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 10:8 אָ֗וֶן wickedness

    The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

    Here: A deliberate slur. Hosea calls Bethel ('House of God') 'Beth-aven' ('House of Wickedness/Nothing', 4:15; 10:5); here he drops the 'Beth' and leaves only the insult. Translators either keep it as a name ('Aven') or translate it ('wickedness').

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 1:5 אָ֔וֶן Aven

    I will break down the gates of Damascus; I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden. The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.

    Here: As a common noun, ʾaven means wickedness, trouble or idolatrous emptiness. It is probably a mocking twist on a real place name, making it 'Valley of Wickedness'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.