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Malachi 1.2-3
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Passage

Malachi 1.2-3

Book: Malachi · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV
  1. The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi.

2. I have loved you, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Jehovah: yet I loved Jacob; 3. but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.

  1. Whereas Edom saith, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever. 5. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Jehovah be magnified beyond the border of Israel. (Malachi 1:1-5, ASV)
WEB
  1. A revelation, Yahweh’s word to Israel by Malachi.

2. “I have loved you,” says Yahweh. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says Yahweh, “Yet I loved Jacob; 3. but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.”

  1. Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places”; Yahweh of Armies says, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever.” 5. Your eyes will see, and you will say, “Yahweh is great, even beyond the border of Israel!” (Malachi 1:1-5, WEB)
KJV
  1. The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. by: Heb. by the hand of

2. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3. And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

  1. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. 5. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. from: or, upon: Heb. from upon (Malachi 1:1-5, KJV)
YLT
  1. The burden of a word of Jehovah unto Israel by the hand of Malachi:

2. I have loved you, said Jehovah, And ye have said, 'In what hast Thou loved us?' 3. Is not Esau Jacob's brother?, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I love Jacob, and Esau I have hated, And I make his mountains a desolation, And his inheritance for dragons of a wilderness.

  1. Because Edom saith, 'We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And [men] have called to them, 'O region of wickedness,' 'O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.' 5. And your eyes do see, and ye say, 'Magnified is Jehovah beyond the border of Israel, (Malachi 1:1-5, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: YHWH, whose word comes "by Malachi" (1:1, literally "by the hand of Malachi"). "Wherein hast thou loved us?" is the people's objection, quoted inside the divine speech.
  • Audience: The returned community of Judah, addressed as "Israel" (1:1): a people back in the land with a rebuilt temple, but disillusioned that the restoration promised by the earlier prophets has not visibly arrived.
  • Location: Jerusalem and its temple, in Yehud (Judah), a province of the Persian Empire. The "governor" of 1:8 bears the Persian-era title also given to Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1) and to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:14).
  • Time period: The Persian period, commonly dated to the mid-fifth century BC (c. 460-430 BC). The book carries no dated heading, but the temple is standing and its sacrifices are running, so it follows the rebuilding completed in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6:15, c. 516 BC). The abuses it confronts, a careless priesthood, withheld tithes, and marriages to worshippers of foreign gods, are the ones Nehemiah deals with (Nehemiah 13:10-12, 23-29).

Theological reading

Love proved by history. The people ask how God has loved them, and the answer points to two brothers. Jacob and Esau had the same parents, yet the promise ran through Jacob (Genesis 25:23), and the proof offered is visible on the map: Esau's mountains lie desolate and his heritage is given over to jackals.

What "hated" means here. The verse sets "loved" and "hated" side by side in the language of choosing, and the object of both is a people and its territory as much as an individual. One reading takes "hated" comparatively, as in Genesis 29:30-31, where Jacob "loved also Rachel more than Leah" and Leah is then called "hated." Another reads it more strongly, as settled rejection shown in judgment on Edom. Either way the stress falls on God's free choice, not on any merit in Jacob.

Paul's use. Romans 9:13 quotes the verse ("Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated") in an argument that the choice was made "not of works, but of him that calleth" (Romans 9:11). Paul reads Malachi as testimony that the covenant rests on God's initiative.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

  • TBD

Quoted in

People:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.