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“I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?”

“Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord explains, “yet I chose Jacob and rejected Esau.[a] I turned Esau’s[b] mountains into a deserted wasteland[c] and gave his territory[d] to the wild jackals.”[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “and I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.” The context indicates this is technical covenant vocabulary in which “love” and “hate” are synonymous with “choose” and “reject” respectively (see Deut 7:8; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 9:15; 11:1).
  2. Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”
  4. Malachi 1:3 tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).
  5. Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “jackals of the wilderness.”

Israel Beloved of God

“I(A) have loved you,” says the Lord.
“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”
Says the Lord.
“Yet (B)Jacob I have loved;
But Esau I have hated,
And (C)laid waste his mountains and his heritage
For the jackals of the wilderness.”

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