And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
And I hated Esau - not positively, but relatively - i:e., I did not choose him out to be the object of gratuitous favour, as I did Jacob (cf. Luke 14:26, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother ... he cannot be my disciple," with Matthew 10:37, "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me;" Genesis 29:30-31; Deuteronomy 21:15-16). In all these instances "hate" is a term used not positively, but relatively - i:e., to love one less than another.
And laid his mountains and his heritage waste - "his mountains and his heritage" - i:e., his territory, which was generally mountainous. Israel was, it is true, punished by the Chaldeans, but Edom has been utterly destroyed; namely, either by Nebuchadnezzar (Rosenmuller), or by the neighbouring peoples, Egypt, Ammon, and Moab, whose countries severally had been invaded five years after the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, whose allies the Edomites were (Josephus, 'Antiquities,' 10: 9, 7; Maurer; Jeremiah 49:17-18).
For the dragons of the wilderness - jackals (Moore). Compare Isaiah 34:13. Maurer translates [tanowt, from taanaah (H8566) and naatan, to extend one's self, to abide], 'abodes of the wilderness,' from a Hebrew root [taanan] akin to an Arab root, to stop, or abide (Gesenius). The English version is better. [It is plural feminine, from tan (H8565), the same as taniyn (H8577).]