to hate: to turn against someone or something with deep ill will, and (in a comparative turn of phrase) to set one thing far below another in love or loyalty
At its core this verb names the opposite of love: a settled, active hostility, not a passing dislike. In the New Testament it runs in two main directions. People hate other people, above all the world hating Jesus and those who follow him, and that hatred shows itself in rejection, slander, and violence. People also hate things, and here the word can be good or bad: God and the faithful hate evil and wrongdoing, while sinful people hate the light because it exposes them.
Alongside this strong sense of hostility, the word carries a turn of phrase rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, where "hate" can mean "love less" or "put second." When two things compete for your loyalty and you must choose, the one you do not choose is said to be "hated." This is not emotional loathing but a decisive ranking of priorities.
These uses are not separate words but one verb stretched across a range. The line between fierce hostility and stark comparison is exactly where readers most often go wrong, so the context, especially whether two rival claims are being weighed, decides which force is in view.
Nuances
Whether "Esau I hated" in Paul's citation of Malachi 1:2-3 carries the comparative sense "loved less, set second" or names genuine divine rejection.
- contestedComparative election language: God preferred Jacob and set Esau second, in line with the Hebrew idiom where the unfavored party is "hated."; C. E. B. Cranfield, The Epistle to the Romans (ICC), on Romans 9:13
- contestedGenuine rejection: the verb names real divine repudiation of Esau and his line, not merely a lesser love.; D. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT), on Romans 9:13