Hebrew word · H573

אֲמִתַּי

'amitai

Amittai

Built on ʾemet, 'firmness, reliability, faithfulness, truth.' It probably means 'my faithfulness' or is a shortened form of a name like '(Yahweh is) faithful/true.'

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 2Ki.14.25;

father of: Jonah (H3124)

§ Amittai = "my truth"

the father of Jonah the prophet

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

In depth

From the study of Jonah 1:1

Range of meaning

Built on ʾemet, 'firmness, reliability, faithfulness, truth.' It probably means 'my faithfulness' or is a shortened form of a name like '(Yahweh is) faithful/true.'

Against the English

'Amittai' carries no meaning for an English reader.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Bible, Amittai appears only here and in 2 Kings 14:25. The noun ʾemet is a key word for God's covenant reliability, as in 'steadfast love and faithfulness' (Exod 34:6). Jonah himself quotes that confession, in a shortened form, in 4:2.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 14:25 אֲמִתַּי֙ Amittai

    This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.

    Here: Jonah's father. The name is probably related to 'emet, 'truth, faithfulness'. Nothing else is known about him.

Jonah · 1

  1. Jonah 1:1 אֲמִתַּ֖י Amittai

    Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,

    Here: The father's name comes from ʾemet, 'faithfulness, reliability, truth.' It probably means something like 'my faithfulness' or '(Yahweh is) faithful.' Next to a prophet who runs away, the name may be ironic.

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