BETH-AVEN, BETHAVEN bĕth ā’ vən (Heb. בֵּ֥ית אָֽוֶן, village of evil), a purposeful perversion of the familiar town name Beth-El (Hos 10:5) The location given for it in 1 Samuel 13:5; 14:23 is said to be W of Michmash, which may indicate the existence of two such locations. It has been proposed that it is an archaic name of Ai, but evidence is lacking.