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God Loves Israel

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. 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.”

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.

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 1:2 chose Or “loved.”
  2. Malachi 1:3 did not accept Or “hated.”
  3. Malachi 1:3 his hill country This means the country of Edom. Edom was another name for Esau.
  4. Malachi 1:3 wild dogs Literally, “jackals.”

Israel Doubts God’s Love

“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) 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)

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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