God’s Word Translation
Malachi 1:2
2“I loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How did you love us?’ “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “I loved Jacob,
Malachi 1:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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,
- New International Version (NIV)“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,
- English Standard Version (ESV)"I have loved you," says the Lord. But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob
- New King James Version (NKJV)“I 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 Jacob I have loved;
Context of Malachi 1:2
1This is a divine revelation. The Lord spoke his word to Israel through Malachi. “I loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How did you love us?’ “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “I loved Jacob, 3but Esau I hated. I turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the jackals in the desert. 4“The descendants of Esau may say, ‘We have been beaten down, but we will rebuild the ruins.’ “Yet, this is what the Lord of Armies says: They may rebuild, but I will tear it down. They will be called ‘the Wicked Land’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is always angry.’
Read all of Malachi 1Malachi 1:2 word by word
אָהַ֤בְתִּי אֶתְכֶם֙ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם בַּמָּ֣ה אֲהַבְתָּ֑נוּ הֲלוֹא־אָ֨ח עֵשָׂ֤ו לְיַֽעֲקֹב֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה וָאֹהַ֖ב אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Malachi 1:2
- Deuteronomy 7:6You are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. He chose you to be his own special possession out of all the nations on earth.
- Deuteronomy 10:15The Lord set his heart on your ancestors and loved them. Because of this, today he chooses you, their descendants, out of all the people of the world.
- Deuteronomy 32:8When the Most High gave nations their land, when he divided the descendants of Adam, he set up borders for the tribes corresponding to the number of the sons of Israel.
- Isaiah 41:8“But you are my servant Israel, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendant of Abraham, my dear friend.
- Isaiah 43:4Since you are precious to me, you are honored and I love you. I will exchange others for you. Nations will be the price I pay for your life.
- Jeremiah 31:3The Lord appeared to me in a faraway place and said, “I love you with an everlasting love. So I will continue to show you my kindness.
- Romans 11:28The Good News made the Jewish people enemies because of you. But by God’s choice they are loved because of their ancestors.
- Malachi 1:6“This is what the Lord of Armies says: A son honors his father, and a servant honors his master. So if I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my respect? You priests despise my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’
- Malachi 2:17You have tried the patience of the Lord with your words. But you ask, “How have we tried his patience?” When you say, “Everyone who does evil is considered good by the Lord. He is pleased with them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”
- Malachi 3:7Since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my laws and have not followed them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
- Jeremiah 2:5This is what the Lord says: What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
- Luke 10:29But the man wanted to justify his question. So he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
- Genesis 25:23The Lord said to her, “Two countries are in your womb. Two nations will go their separate ways from birth. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
- Genesis 27:27He went over and gave him a kiss. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said, “The smell of my son is like the smell of open country that the Lord has blessed.
- Genesis 28:3May God Almighty bless you, make you fertile, and increase the number of your descendants so that you will become a community of people.
- Genesis 32:28The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel [He Struggles With God], because you have struggled with God and with men—and you have won.”
Commentaries on Malachi 1:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Was not Esau Jacob's brother? - Have I not shown a greater partiality to the Israelites than I have to the Edomites? I loved Jacob - My love to Jacob has been proved by giving him greater privileges and a better inheritance than what I have given to Esau.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2I have loved you, saith the Lord - What a volume of God‘s relations to us in two simple words, “I-have-loved you”. So would not God speak, unless He still loved. “I have loved and do love you,” is the force of the words. When? And since when? In all eternity God loved; in all our past, God loved. Tokens of His love, past or present, in good or seeming ill, are but an effluence of that everlasting love. He, the Unchangeable, ever loved, as the apostle of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2loved: The relationship between the Lord and Israel involves covenant implications. This love can mean God's choice or election of Israel as his people. Malachi's message shows that other aspects of God's unconditional covenant love for Israel, like his patient mercy (see Malachi 3:6, 17), are still active. See also Romans 9:13.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. I have loved you--above other men; nay, even above the other descendants of Abraham and Isaac. Such gratuitous love on My part called for love on yours. But the return ye make is sin and dishonor to Me. This which is to be supplied is left unexpressed, sorrow as it were breaking off the sentence [Menochius], (De 7:8; Ho 11:1). Wherein hast thou loved us?--In painful contrast to the tearful tenderness of God's love stands their insolent challenge. The…Read the comment
Topics related to Malachi 1:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Malachi 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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