1. One of several Egyptian cities threatened with God's vengeance (Ezekiel 30:17). The name is evidently a corruption or an intentional vowel-change of "On" (Genesis 41:45), which is thus made to signify "vanity." The Septuagint renders it "Heliopolis." 2. In Hosea 10:8 ("the high places also of Aven"), "Aven" probably stands for Beth-aven (Hosea 10:5), by which name Beth-el is intended. Some scholars, however (G. A. Smith," The Twelve Prophets," for example), are inclined to regard Aven as a term for "false worship," and render the phrase "high places of idolatry." 3. The "plain of Aven" (R. V. "valley of Aven"), mentioned in Amos 1:5, applies to the valley of Cœle-Syria, between Lebanon and Anti-Libanus, noted for the idolatrous worship of the sun at the temple of Baalbek. The valley is now called "Beka'a" (Baedeker-Socin, "Palestine," p. 447).