Edom Is Thoroughly Plundered and Betrayed by Allies

Ordinary thieves would have left a remainder

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? The comparisons assume a normal leftover. Night robbers take what they can carry. Grape gatherers leave gleanings.

How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! Calling Edom Esau keeps the ancestral kinship in view while the stores fail. What was cached in rock and secrecy is opened. The loss is pictured as more complete than ordinary plunder, not as a general law that every hidden account will be exposed on a timetable readers can set.

Peace partners and bread companions turn

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. Covenant, peace, and shared bread name trusted relationships, not obvious enemies. They escort Edom to the edge, deceive, overpower, and place an unseen injury underneath.

The last noun is genuinely hard: wound, trap, snare, and related reconstructions are all attempted. The parallel lines are not hard. Allies fail, and understanding is gone. The text does not name the treaty partners, and later guesses about a particular coalition should stay guesses.