Anaph is the Aramaic word for branch or bough — appearing in Daniel 4:12 and 4:21 as part of Nebuchadnezzar's great tree vision, where the tree's branches (anaphohî) reached to the sky and under its boughs the birds of the sky nested. The related Hebrew form appears in Leviticus 23:40 and Ezekiel 17 and 31 in descriptions of leafy trees. The word captures the spreading, canopy-like quality of great branches that provide shelter.
The great tree of Nebuchadnezzar's vision — with its branches reaching heaven and all creatures sheltering under it — is a universal empire image. Yet it is also, as Jesus later employs in the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matt 13:32), the image of the Kingdom of God: a small beginning that grows until the birds of the air nest in its branches. The anaph — the sheltering bough — becomes a picture of God's kingdom providing refuge for all who come. The image also echoes the cedar-branch vision of Ezekiel 17:23, where the Messiah is the sprig planted by God that becomes a great cedar.