Aven

Aven ("vanity" or "wickedness") was a prophetic byname applied by the eighth-century prophets to centers of idolatry. Hosea 10:8 mocks "the high places of Aven" — Bethel's calf-worship sanctuaries renamed "Beth-aven" ("house of vanity"). Amos 1:5 prophesies judgment on "the inhabitant of the plain of Aven" in the Damascene valley. Ezekiel 30:17 names Aven in his oracle against Egypt — identifying it with On (Heliopolis), center of the sun-god Re. The shared usage turns idolatrous place-names into theological commentary: every shrine the nations called sacred, the prophets renamed "vanity."