Aven

Aven (meaning nothingness or vanity) is used by the Hebrew prophets as a polemical name for idolatrous sites. Hosea applies it to Bethel (Beth-aven, house of vanity), mocking Israel's northern sanctuary as a place of worthless idolatry (Hosea 10:8). Amos uses the plain of Aven (Amos 1:5) for the Aramean valley of Damascus. Ezekiel 30:17 applies the term to the Egyptian city of On (Heliopolis), city of the sun-god, as an oracle of judgment.