BANI bā’ nī (בָּנִ֖י, build). 1. A Gadite; one of David’s “thirty,” the military elite of its time (2 Sam 23:36). The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 11:38 has “son of Hagri” which S. R. Driver judges to be a corruption of the Samuel texts (Sam.—p. 371).

2. An ancestor of the Levite Merari through the family of Ethan whose son served in the Tabernacle during the time of David (1 Chron 6:46).

3. A descendant of the tribe of Pharez, son of Judah by Uthai, a postexilic inhabitant of Jerusalem (1 Chron 9:4). The Kethibh and the LXX combine this name and the next word and read “Benjamin.”

4. The ancestor of some who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:10, 1 Esd 5:12); called Binnui in Nehemiah 7:15.

5. An ancestor of Shelomith who accompanied Ezra as a representative from Babylon to be restored to Ezra 8:10 on the basis of 1 Esd 8:36.

6. One whose descendants had taken foreign wives (Ezra 10:29; 1 Esd 9:30, Maani) and the list continues in Ezra 10:38 mentioning another (?) Bani and Binnui (1 Esd 9:34).

7. A Levite whose son helped to repair the wall (Neh 3:17).

8. A Levite who along with others assisted Ezra in expounding the law of God (Neh 8:7; 9:4f.) called Anniuth in 1 Esdras 9:48.

9. One of the Levitical representatives who signed the covenant in response to the great revival upon hearing the law of God again proclaimed (Neh 10:13).

10. One of the “chiefs of the people” who signed the same covenant as in #9 (Neh 10:14).

11. Father of an overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem of the sons of Asaph, “the singers, over the business of the house of God” (Neh 11:22).

This name is easily confused with Binnui or Bunah and its popularity in the postexilic period makes it even more difficult. A further difficulty is encountered in sorting out the individuals with this name from its use as a family or clan name. Some of the above may therefore refer to the same Bani.

Bibliography M. Noth, IPN, 172.