Edom had been deceived (Ob 1:5-1:7)

“If thieves

Came to you,

How you would have been

Destroyed!

If plunderers

Came by night,

How you have been

Destroyed!

Would they not steal

Only what they wanted?

If grape-gatherers

Came to you,

Would they not

Leave gleanings?

How Esau has been pillaged!

His treasures have been

Sought out!

All your allies

Have deceived you.

They have driven you

To the border.

Your confederates

Have prevailed

Against you.

Those who ate your bread

Have set a trap

For you.

There is no understanding of it.”

Edom has suffered like as if thieves had come to them at night.  However, these robbers would only take what they wanted.  Unlike grape-gatherers who leave gleanings for the poor, these attackers have pillaged Edom and taken its treasures.  It was their own allies that deceived Edom.  They drove them out of their own country to the border.  Their former friends had prevailed against them.  The very people, who they used to sit down to break bread with, were the ones who set the trap for them.  Who could understand such a thing?

The planned attack on Babylon (Jer 50:9-50:10)

“‘I am going to stir up

Those against Babylon.

I am bringing

A company of great nations,

Against Babylon,

From the north country.

They shall array themselves

Against her.

From there

She shall be taken.

Their arrows are

Like the arrows                                

Of a skilled warrior

Who does not return

Empty-handed.

Chaldea shall be

Plundered.

All who plunder her

Shall be sated.’

Says Yahweh.”

Here the attack on Babylon is not from one country, but a series of countries, all from the north, as usual. Yahweh was going to stir up these attackers. Their arrows would be like those of skilled archers. Chaldea would be plundered so that everyone would have their fill.