Malachi 1:2-4
Easy-to-Read Version
God Loves Israel
2 The Lord said, “I love you people.”
But you said, “What shows you love us?”
The Lord said, “Esau was Jacob’s brother, but I chose[a] Jacob. 3 And I did not accept[b] Esau. I destroyed his hill country.[c] His country was destroyed, and now only wild dogs[d] live there.”
4 The people of Edom might say, “We were destroyed, but we will go back and rebuild our cities.”
But the Lord All-Powerful says, “If they rebuild their cities, I will destroy them again.” That is why people say Edom is an evil country—a nation the Lord hates forever.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Malachi 1:2 chose Or “loved.”
- Malachi 1:3 did not accept Or “hated.”
- Malachi 1:3 his hill country This means the country of Edom. Edom was another name for Esau.
- Malachi 1:3 wild dogs Literally, “jackals.”
Malachi 1:2-4
New International Version
Israel Doubts God’s Love
2 “I have loved(A) you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask,(B) ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,(C) 3 but Esau I have hated,(D) and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland(E) and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.(F)”
4 Edom(G) may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild(H) the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.(I) They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.(J)
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