Hebrew word · H6057

עָנָף

'anaf

branch

ʿĀnāp is a leafy bough and pərî is fruit. Nāśāʾ means to lift or bear, and ʿāśâ means to make or produce.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

bough, branch

Aramaic equivalent: a.naph (עֲנַף "bough" H6056)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: ʿĀnāp is a leafy bough and pərî is fruit. Nāśāʾ means to lift or bear, and ʿāśâ means to make or produce.
Against the English: Most versions have 'bear branches / produce fruit' or the reverse. None can easily show that the pairing reverses verse 8.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ezekiel 17:8: the vine was planted 'to make (ʿăśôt) boughs (ʿānāp) and to bear (śēʾt) fruit (pərî), to become a majestic vine.' Verse 23: 'it will bear (nāśāʾ) boughs and make (ʿāśâ) fruit and become a majestic cedar.'

Range of meaning: A bough or leafy branch, the spreading foliage of a tree or vine. It is a rare word: Lev 23:40; Ps 80:10 (Eng. 11); Ezek 17:8, 23; 31:3; 36:8; Mal 3:19 (Eng. 4:1). An Aramaic form appears in Daniel 4 for the great tree.
Against the English: 'Branches' is accurate. The singular-for-collective form, with the verb 'give', paints a whole hillside putting on foliage, not a few sticks.
Used elsewhere in the period: In Ezekiel the word belongs to his imagery of plants as kingdoms and dynasties. In 17:8 a vine planted to 'produce boughs (ʿānāp̄) and bear fruit'. In 17:23 the cedar sprig God plants 'will bear boughs and produce fruit', using the same verbs nāśāʾ and ʿāśâ with ʿānāp̄ and pərî. In 31:3 Assyria is a cedar 'with beautiful boughs'. Psalm 80:10 (Eng. 11) pictures Israel as a vine whose boughs spread.

Range of meaning: A bough or leafy branch, normally of a large tree. It is rare in the Hebrew Bible and clusters in Ezekiel's tree allegories (Ezekiel 17:8, 23; 19:10; 31:3; 36:8). The related adjective ʿānēp ('full of branches') is used of a luxuriant vine in Ezekiel 19:10.
Against the English: 'Branches' and 'boughs' are both accurate. 'Boughs' (KJV, WEB, YLT) better keeps the sense of heavy, tree-like limbs.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ezekiel 19:10 combines the same images: 'Your mother was like a vine... fruitful and full of branches (ʿănēpâ).' Ezekiel 31:3 uses ʿānāp of the cedar of Lebanon. The vocabulary moves easily between vines and cedars.

Leviticus · 1

Leviticus 23:40 וַעֲנַ֥ף and branch[es] of

On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

Here: 'And a branch of.' It is a leafy bough, a word used for spreading foliage (e.g. Ezek 17:8, 23).

Psalms · 1

Psalm 80:10 וַ֝עֲנָפֶ֗יהָ and branches its

The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

Here: 'And its boughs.' The word is usually used for the large limbs of real trees, such as the great cedar of Ezekiel 31. Using it for a grapevine already hints that this vine has grown to the size of a tree.

Ezekiel · 4

Ezekiel 17:8 עָנָף֙ branch[es]

It had been planted in good soil by abundant waters in order to yield branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine.’
Ezekiel 17:23 עָנָף֙ branch[es]

I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches.

Here: A leafy bough. The singular stands for the whole crown of branches. The same word appears in the vine's failed purpose in 17:8.
Ezekiel 31:3 עָנָ֛ף branch[es]

Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds.

Here: The noun is singular but stands for the whole branching canopy: 'beautiful in branches.'
Ezekiel 36:8 עַנְפְּכֶ֣ם branch[es] your

But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and bear fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home.

Here: The noun is singular but stands for all the boughs together: the leafy spread of trees and vines covering slopes that had been stripped bare.

Malachi · 1

Malachi 4:1 וְעָנָֽף׃ and branch

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

Here: 'And branch.' The visible growth above ground that bears fruit. 'Root and branch' together means the whole tree, from bottom to top: total destruction with no posterity and no chance of regrowth.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.