Evil
אָ֫וֶןStrong’s H0205aven (a-ven)
Appears in 77 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Aven is the Hebrew word usually translated “wickedness”, “trouble” and “disaster”. It appears in 77 verses of the Old Testament.
“For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.”
Meaning
- Trouble, wickedness, sorrowtrouble, sorrow · idolatry · trouble of iniquity, wickedness
How it's translated
- wickedness 58
- trouble 5
- and wickedness 3
- disaster 1
- in mourning my 1
- hardship 1
- wickedness his 1
- evil 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 29
- Job 13
- Isaiah 12
- Proverbs 9
- Hosea 3
- Jeremiah 2
14 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Numbers 23:21He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
- Deuteronomy 26:14I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
- 1 Samuel 15:23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
- Job 4:8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
- Job 5:6Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
- Job 11:11For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?
All 77 verses, by book
Hebrew dictionary
אָ֫וֶן aven · evil
1) trouble, wickedness, sorrow 1a) trouble, sorrow 1b) idolatry 1c) trouble of iniquity, wickedness Also means: a.ven (אָ֫וֶן ": trouble" H0205H)
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “evil” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
E'VIL, adjective
e'vl. [Heb. to be unjust or injurious, to defraud.]
- Having bad qualities of a natural kind; mischievous; having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief.“Some evil beast hath devoured him” Genesis 37:20
- Having bad qualities of a moral kind; wicked; corrupt; perverse; wrong; as evil thoughts; evil deeds; evil speaking; an evil generation.
- Unfortunate; unhappy; producing sorrow, distress, injury or calamity; as evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.
All definitions and other forms of “evil”
E'VIL, noun
evil is natural or moral. Natural evil is any thing which produces pain, distress, loss or calamity, or which in any way disturbs the peace, impairs the happiness, or destroys the perfection of natural beings.
- Misfortune; mischief; injury.“There shall no evil befall thee” Psalms 91:10“A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself” Proverbs 22:3
- Depravity; corruption of heart, or disposition to commit wickedness; malignity.“The heart of the sons of men is full of evil” Ecclesiastes 9:3
- Malady; as the king's evil or scrophula.
E'VIL, adverb
[generally contracted to ill.]
- Not well; not with justice or propriety; unsuitable.
- Not virtuously; not innocently.
- Not happily; unfortunately.
- Injuriously; not kindly.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.