A frequent misinterpretation treats the passage as God arbitrarily and personally hating Esau and certain individuals with eternal animosity, predestining them to damnation without mercy, ignoring the corporate national context from Malachi 1 where 'Jacob' and 'Esau' symbolize Israel and Edom, the idiomatic Semitic use of 'hate' for relative preference or rejection rather than literal hatred, and Paul's argument against Israel presuming entitlement to God's promises based on ancestry alone.
Romans 9:13
King James Version (1769)
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Romans 9:13 underscores God's sovereign election and prerogative in choosing whom He will love and use to accomplish His purposes, quoting Malachi to affirm His preference for Jacob over Esau as representative of Israel over Edom, demonstrating that God's mercy and calling depend not on human works but on His own will, as elaborated in the surrounding context of Romans 9 on divine election.