Chiun

Chiun (or Kiyyun) appears in Amos 5:26 in the prophet's condemnation of Israel's wilderness idolatry: You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Chiun your idol, your star-god. The term is generally identified with the Assyrian-Babylonian deity Kaiwanu, associated with the planet Saturn and its cult. The Septuagint rendered Chiun as Raiphan, which Stephen's speech in Acts 7:43 follows (quoting Amos 5:26 as Rephan). The passage indicates that even during the wilderness period Israel was worshipping astral deities alongside or instead of the God of the covenant — a charge consistent with the prophetic indictment of Israel's persistent idolatry rooted in the exodus generation.