Anani is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Anani was a descendant of David, included in the genealogical record of the tribe of Judah. He is named only once in the King James Bible, at the close of a lineage that traces the royal line of David through the period of the Babylonian exile and beyond. The genealogies of 1 Chronicles were compiled to preserve the identity of God’s covenant people after the return from captivity, and Anani appears in this record as one of the later generations of David’s house.
The setting of his mention is the family of Elioenai, whose sons are listed in 1 Chronicles 3:24: Hodaiah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Dalaiah, and Anani — seven in all. Anani is the last name in this list, and with him the chronicler’s record of David’s descendants reaches its conclusion. The text says nothing else about him: no deed, no office, no word, no event in his life is recorded. He is known to Scripture only as a son of Elioenai and a member of David’s line.
What Scripture says of Anani, then, is simply that he belonged. He was counted among the sons of Elioenai and numbered among the descendants of David, and his name was preserved in the sacred record of Israel. His inclusion in this genealogy is itself the whole of his testimony in the biblical text — a single verse, a single mention, and a place in the family line of the promised king.
The Name
The name Anani is a Hebrew name, and its meaning is generally understood to be connected to the Hebrew root meaning “cloud,” so that the name is often rendered as “my cloud” or “cloud of the LORD,” with some suggesting a sense such as “He covers” or “the LORD is a cloud.” Because the name appears only once in Scripture and no narrative explains it, the precise nuance is not certain, but the association with the word for cloud is the most widely accepted understanding. It should be noted that the exact shade of meaning is not clearly recoverable from the text itself.
A Closing Thought
Anani’s entire legacy in Scripture is one line in a long list of names. He built nothing famous, led no army, and spoke no recorded word — yet he was counted among the people of God and remembered in the book that bears witness to His promises. Most of us will live lives that feel similarly hidden, unknown to history and unrecorded by the world. Anani quietly reminds us that being named and known by God is enough. The genealogy that ends with him was not a dead end; it was a link in the line through which God was faithfully keeping His covenant from generation to generation.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 3:24 — And the sons of Elioenai were, Hodaiah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Dalaiah, and Anani, seven.