Israel Doubts God’s Love

“I have loved(A) you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask,(B) ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,(C) but Esau I have hated,(D) and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland(E) and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.(F)

Edom(G) may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild(H) the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.(I) They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.(J) You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great(K) is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’(L)

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Love of Jacob

I have loved you, says the Lord;
        but you say, “How have you loved us?”
Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?
says the Lord.
        I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.
I turned Esau’s mountains into desolation,
        his inheritance into a wilderness for jackals.
Edom may say, “We are beaten down, but we will rebuild the ruins”;
    but the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
    They may build, but I will tear them down.
    They will call themselves a wicked territory,
            the people against whom the Lord rages forever.
Your eyes will see it and you will say,
        “May the Lord be great beyond the borders of Israel.”

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