1:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah. With some variations, wording like this is used some 112 times in the Old Testament to describe the giving of a divine message to a prophet.

Jonah the son of Amittai. The recipient of the Lord’s revelation is Jonah (“dove”), the son of Amittai (“loyal” or “faithful”). This designation identifies the prophet as the historical character of 2 Kin. 14:25, who proclaimed that Jeroboam II (793–753 b.c.) would recover territory from the Syrians to the north. Contrast Jonah’s message to Jeroboam’s kingdom with the words of Amos and Hosea, who prophesied during the period of Israel’s spiritual decline in the latter part of the same century (Introduction: Date and Occasion).