The LORD says to his people, "I have always loved you." But they reply, "How have you shown your love for us?" The LORD answers, "Esau and Jacob were brothers, but I have loved Jacob and his descendants,

and have hated Esau and his descendants. I have devastated Esau's hill country and abandoned the land to jackals."

When the LORD saw that Leah was loved less than Rachel, he made it possible for her to have children, but Rachel remained childless.

She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, "The LORD has given me this son also, because he heard that I was not loved"; so she named him Simeon.

"Suppose a man has two wives and they both bear him sons, but the first son is not the child of his favorite wife.

If you don't punish your children, you don't love them. If you do love them, you will correct them.

"Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples.

"Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well.

Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal.