SPECIAL TOPIC: THE VALLEY OF AVEN

The term "Aven" (BDB 20) can mean

trouble
sorrow
wickedness
idolatry

It is used in several ways in Amos ‒ Hosea.

a place of idolatry
a reference to Bethel by means of a Hebrew word play (cf. Hosea 4:15; 5:8; 10:5,8)
a reference to wickedness (cf. Hosea 6:8; 10:8; 12:11)
nothingness (i.e. idolatry as vanity, cf. Amos 5:5)

In Amos 1:5, it refers to a place somewhere in Syria. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 284, notes that it is a Jewish wordplay on the city of Baalbek, which was called Heliopolis during the Greek period. McComiskey also asserts that because of the contact between Syria and Egypt this city may possibly have taken on the name of an Egyptian city, 'On (i.e. BDB 58 and the Septuagint, cf. Gen. 41:50; Exod. 30:17).

The site is geographically uncertain, but many believe that it refers to the Bukaa valley of Syria (cf. the Septuagint).