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Malachi 1:1-5

God chose Jacob's descendants as his people

1 This is the message that the Lord spoke to Malachi. Malachi knew that he must tell this message to the Israelites.

1:1When we write Lord like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as the Hebrew name ‘Yahweh’. It is God's own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.

2 The Lord says, ‘I have loved you.’

But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

The Lord says, ‘I chose to love Jacob and his descendants. Esau was Jacob's brother. 3 But I have not loved Esau and his descendants.

1:3Esau and Jacob were brothers who were twins. Esau was born first. So he should have received God's special blessing. But Esau sold his blessing to Jacob. God gave Jacob a new name, ‘Israel’. The 12 tribes of Israel were descendants of Jacob's 12 sons.

Instead, I have caused trouble for Esau. I caused Esau's mountains to become a wilderness. Nobody uses that land any longer. Now there are only jackals in the land that belongs to Esau.’

4 Esau's descendants in Edom may say, ‘They have destroyed our towns, but we will build our houses again.’

But the Lord Almighty says, ‘They may build again, but I will knock everything down. People will call Edom, “The Evil Land”. They will call them, “The nation that the Lord is angry with for ever”. 5 You will see with your own eyes what I will do to them. Then you will say, “The Lord has great power, even beyond Israel's borders.” ’