aven · wickedness, trouble

What it means

aven (אָוֶן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “wickedness, trouble”.

What is empty and comes to nothing; also the evil and the affliction it brings.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The evil one does.
2. The evil one suffers, distress.
3. What is empty and worthless, like idols.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Wickedness: the evil someone plots or does, and also the misfortune and suffering it brings; the root carries the idea of what is empty, what comes to nothing. BDB: trouble, sorrow, wickedness; also idolatry.

• “All who work wickedness” Psalms 5:5Psalms 6:8Proverbs 21:15
• “Wickedness he plots on his bed” Psalms 36:4
• Wickedness in worship: “I cannot bear wickedness with a solemn assembly” Isaiah 1:131 Samuel 15:23
• “They conceive suffering and give birth to wickedness” Isaiah 59:4
• “He has not looked on wickedness in Jacob” Numbers 23:21

Historical and cultural background

The same word is in the place name Beth-aven (Hosea 4:15) and in “the valley of Aven” (Amos 1:5).

How we translate it

“Wickedness” 71 times: this edition fixes אָוֶן = “wickedness”, and מְתֵי אָוֶן = “the men of wickedness” (Job 22:15). In Deuteronomy 26:14 it is translated “mourning” by the sense of the context. In Proverbs 11:7 it is translated “vigor”, the sense of its sister word אוֹן.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• wickedness ×71
• Aven ×1
• Under affliction ×1
• calamity ×1
• mourners ×1
• mourning ×1
• nothing ×1
• sorrow ×1
• vigor ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• Job×13
• Psalms×29
• Proverbs×10
• Isaiah×12
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×4
• Amos×1
• Micah×1
• Habakkuk×2
• Zechariah×1

• Numbers 23:21

  He has not looked on wickedness in Jacob, and he has not seen trouble in Israel. YHWH his Elohim is with him, and the acclamation of a king is among them.

• Deuteronomy 26:14

  I have not eaten of it in my mourning, nor have I removed any of it while unclean, nor have I given any of it for the dead. I have listened to the voice of YHWH my Elohim; I have done according to all that you commanded me.

• 1 Samuel 15:23

  For rebellion is the sin of divination, and stubbornness is wickedness and teraphim. Because you have despised the word of YHWH, he has despised you from being king.”

• Job 4:8

  As I have seen, those who plow wickedness and those who sow suffering reap it.

• Job 5:6

  For wickedness does not come out of the dust, nor does suffering sprout from the ground,

• Job 11:11

  For he knows empty men, and he sees wickedness; will he not consider it?

• Job 11:14

  if wickedness is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let injustice dwell in your tents;

• Job 15:35

  They conceive suffering and give birth to wickedness, and their belly prepares deceit.”

• Job 21:19

  ‘Eloah stores up his wickedness for his sons,’ they say. Let him repay it to him, and let him know it.

• Job 22:15

  Will you keep the ancient path that the men of wickedness have trodden,

• Job 31:3

  Is it not calamity for the unjust, and disaster for those who work wickedness?

• Job 34:8

  and goes in company with those who work wickedness, and walks with men of wickedness?

• Job 34:22

  There is no darkness, and no shadow of death where those who work wickedness may hide.

• Job 34:36

  Would that Job were tested to the end for his answers like men of wickedness!

• Job 36:10

  And he uncovers their ear to correction, and says that they should turn back from wickedness.

• Job 36:21

  Take care; do not turn to wickedness, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

• Psalms 5:5

  The boastful will not take their stand before your eyes; you hate all who work wickedness.

• Psalms 6:8

  Depart from me, all who work wickedness, for YHWH has heard the voice of my weeping.

• Psalms 7:14

  Look, he conceives wickedness, becomes pregnant with suffering, and gives birth to a lie.

• Psalms 10:7

  His mouth is full of cursing and of deceit and oppression; under his tongue are suffering and wickedness.

• Psalms 14:4

  Do they not know, all who work wickedness, who eat my people as they eat bread, and do not call on YHWH?

• Psalms 28:3

  Do not drag me away with the wicked and with those who work wickedness, who speak peace with their neighbors but evil is in their heart.

• Psalms 36:3

  The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to understand, to do good.

• Psalms 36:4

  Wickedness he plots on his bed; he takes his stand on a way not good; evil he does not reject.

• Psalms 36:12

  There have fallen those who work wickedness; they have been pushed down and are not able to rise.

• Psalms 41:6

  And if he comes to see me, falsehood he speaks; his heart gathers wickedness for itself; he goes out outside and speaks.

• Psalms 53:4

  Do they not know, those who work wickedness, who eat up my people as they eat bread? On Elohim they do not call.

• Psalms 55:3

  because of the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the wicked; for they bring down upon me wickedness, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

• Psalms 55:10

  Day and night they go around it on its walls, and wickedness and suffering are within it.

• Psalms 56:7

  With their wickedness will they get to safety? In anger bring down the peoples, Elohim.

• Psalms 59:2

  Deliver me from those who work wickedness, and from men of blood save me.

• Psalms 59:5

  And you, YHWH Elohim Tsevaot, Elohim of Israel, rouse yourself to call to account all the nations; do not show favor to any who act treacherously with wickedness. Selah.

• Psalms 64:2

  Hide me from the intimate counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of those who work wickedness,

• Psalms 66:18

  If I had regarded wickedness in my heart, Adonai would not have heard.

• Psalms 90:10

  The days of our years —in them seventy years, and if by strength eighty years; and their pride is suffering and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

• Psalms 92:7

  when the wicked flourish like grass, and all the workers of wickedness bloom, it is so that they may be destroyed forever.

• Psalms 92:9

  For look, your enemies, YHWH, for look, your enemies will perish; all the workers of wickedness will be scattered.

• Psalms 94:4

  They pour out, they speak insolence; all the workers of wickedness boast.

• Psalms 94:16

  Who will rise up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against the workers of wickedness?

• Psalms 94:23

  And he will turn back upon them their wickedness, and in their evil he will annihilate them; YHWH our Elohim will annihilate them.

And 39 more times.