2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
2
“I have always loved you,” says the LORD . But you retort, “Really? How have you loved us?” And the LORD replies, “This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob,
2
"I have loved you," says the Lord. But you ask: "How have You loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" [This is] the Lord's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob,
Malachi 1:2 In-Context
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A prophecy: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
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“I have loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
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but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
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Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the LORD Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD.
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You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD—even beyond the borders of Israel!’