As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Parallel translations
- WEB Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
- BSB So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
- NKJV As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
- NASB Just as it is written: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
- NLT In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Scripture sums up God's choice with the words, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. God set his covenant love on Jacob's line by sovereign grace.
Overview
Paul cites Malachi 1:2-3 to confirm God's electing purpose. In Hebrew idiom, loved and hated often express preference and rejection rather than emotional hatred, so the contrast highlights God's choosing of Jacob's line over Esau's. Faithful interpreters note that Malachi speaks of the nations descended from the two, yet Paul applies the principle to individual election as well. Either way, the point stands: God's saving love is freely given, not earned.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Mal 1:2–3I 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,
- Deut 21:15If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
- Gen 29:31And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
- Gen 29:33And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
- Luke 14:26If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
- Prov 13:24He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
- Matt 10:37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
- John 12:25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 9:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.