Malachi 1:3 (YLT)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Malachi 1:1 The burden of a word of Jehovah unto Israel by the hand of Malachi:

Malachi 1:2 I have loved you, said Jehovah, And ye have said, `In what hast Thou loved us?'

Malachi 1:3 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.

Malachi 1:4 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 <FI>men<Fi> have called to them, `O region of wickedness,' `O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'

Malachi 1:5 And your eyes do see, and ye say, `Magnified is Jehovah beyond the border of Israel,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "esau", "jacob's", "brother", "affirmation", "jehovah", and "love". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "esau" and "jacob's", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "I have loved you said Jehovah And..." into verse 4's "Because Edom saith We have been made...", so "esau" and "jacob's" belong inside that flow. In Malachi context, the local focus is covenant faithfulness, priestly corruption, divine justice, and the coming day of the LORD.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "esau" and "jacob's" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.