HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H1007
בֵּית אָ֫וֶן
bet a.ven — Beth-aven
§ Beth-aven = "house of vanity" a city east of Bethel
7 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Beth-aven
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
Historical dictionary entry
House of nothingness; i.e., “of idols”, a place in the mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel (Josh. 7:2; 18:12; 1 Sam. 13:5). In Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5 it stands for “Bethel” (q.v.), and it is so called because it was no longer the “house of God,” but “the house of idols,” referring to the calves there worshipped.
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.