1 verse
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Nothingness; vanity. (1.) Hosea speaks of the “high places of Aven” (10:8), by which he means Bethel. He also calls it Beth-aven, i.e., “the house of vanity” (4:15), on account of the golden calves Jeroboam had set up there (1 Kings 12:28).
(2.) Translated by the LXX. “On” in Ezek. 30:17. The Egyptian Heliopolis or city of On (q.v.).
(3.) In Amos 1:5 it denotes the Syrian Heliopolis, the modern Baalbec.
William Smith, 1884
(nothingness).
(1.) The "plain of Aven" is mentioned by (Amos 1:5) in his denunciation of Syria and the country to the north of Palestine. This Aven is by some supposed to be the once magnificent Heiropolis, "city of I the sun," now Baalbek (Bal’bek) of Coele-Syria, whose ruins are one of the wonders of the ages. It was situated in a plain near the foot of the Anti-Libanus range of mountains, 42 miles northwest of Damascus. It is famous for the colossal ruins of its temples, one of which with its courts and porticos, extended over 1000 feet in length. The temples were built of marble or limestone and granite. Some of the columns were 7 feet in diameter and 62 feet high, or including capital and pedestal, 89 feet. Some of the building-stones were 64 feet long and 12 feet thick. The temples are of Roman origin.
(2.) In (Hosea 10:8) the word is clearly an abbreviation of Bethaven, that is, Bethel. Comp. (Hosea 4:15) etc.
(3.) The sacred city of Heliopolis or On, in Egypt. (Ezekiel 30:17)