Malachi 1:2-3
New English Translation
2 “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 3 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]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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).
- Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”
- Malachi 1:3 tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).
- Malachi 1:3 tn Heb “jackals of the wilderness.”
Malachi 1:2-3
New King James Version
Israel Beloved of God
2 “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;
3 But Esau I have hated,
And (C)laid waste his mountains and his heritage
For the jackals of the wilderness.”
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