a.ven denotes wrongdoing expressed in schemes, counsel, and acts, and in some contexts the harm or distress associated with it.

The dominant usage concerns wrongdoing as something devised, spoken, pursued, or performed: people devise it, work it, harbor it in their thoughts, or must turn away from it. A smaller group of clauses presents the term within statements of trouble, affliction, calamity, or mourning, where its precise contribution is less readily isolated from the paraphrase.

1. Wrongdoing in thought, counsel, and deed · dominant

   The masculine singular absolute form occurs where men “devise evil and give wicked counsel” in Ezekiel 11:2, where people “devise wickedness and work evil” in Micah 2:1, and where their works and thoughts are characterized by wrongdoing in Isaiah 59:6 and Isaiah 59:7. It also marks conduct to be removed or forsaken: in Job 11:14 the APB renders the clause “if wickedness is in your hand, put it far away,” while Isaiah 55:7 speaks of the man of wrongdoing abandoning his thoughts.

   Ezekiel 11:2Micah 2:1Isaiah 59:6Isaiah 59:7Job 11:14Isaiah 55:7
2. Trouble, affliction, or adverse outcome · occasional

   Several clauses place the noun in descriptions of adversity rather than deliberate human action. In Numbers 23:21 the APB renders a denial that trouble has been seen in Israel; Habakkuk 3:7 describes tents “in affliction”; and Job 31:3 pairs calamity with misfortune for workers of wrongdoing. Deuteronomy 26:14 uses the singular construct form in the declaration that the speaker has not eaten while in mourning.

   Numbers 23:21Habakkuk 3:7Job 5:6Job 31:3Deuteronomy 26:14

In the Anselm Paraphrase: Across the cited clauses, the APB uses terms such as “evil,” “wickedness,” “iniquity,” “trouble,” “affliction,” “calamity,” and “mourning.” Because the paraphrase is not word-aligned, these renderings show the verse-level contexts rather than fixed English equivalents for each occurrence.