("build")
A number of biblical characters are called Bani; most of them were Levites and probably related. Most of them lived at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is not always clear to which Bani some of the references relate. Some of the Bani listed separately below may well be identical.
1. Bani the Gadite, one of the thirty "mighty men" of David.
2. A Merarite Levite, son of Shamer and father of Amzi, one of the ancestors of Ethan the singer, who lived during the time of David.
3. A descendant of Perez the son of Judah; he was the father of Imri and the ancestor of Uthai who dwelled in Jerusalem after the return of the exiles from Babylon.
4. The people of Bani, 642 in number, are listed among the captives who returned from Exile with Zerubbabel, though the parallel text in Nehemiah reads "the people of Binnui" (Neh 7:15).
5. A Levite who sealed the covenant at the time of Nehemiah.
6. No less than 33 sons of Bani, including one named Bani himself, are listed among the laymen who had taken pagan wives and were made to repudiate them by Ezra. They may have belonged to the Bani family (No. 4).
7. A Levite, one of the men who helped the people understand the Law (Neh 8:7), who stood on the stairs of the Levites on the day of the great fast (Neh 9:4) and who sealed the covenant (Neh 10:14).
8. Another Levite who stood on the stairs of the Levites.
9. A Levite, father of Rehum who was in charge of the repairs in one section of the wall of Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah.
10. A Levite, son of Hashabiah; his son Uzzi was overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah.
Concordance
BANI 1:
II Sam 23:36
BANI 2:
I Chr 6:46
BANI 3:
I Chr 9:4
BANI 4:
Ezra 2:10
BANI 5:
Neh 10:13
BANI 6:
Ezra 10:29, 34,38
BANI 7:
Neh 8:7; 9:4-5; 10:14
BANI 8:
Neh 9:4
BANI 9:
Neh 3:17
BANI 10:
Neh 11:22
