“Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.”
The woe pronounced against the destroyer and the traitor, with the promise that when destruction and treachery cease, they themselves will be destroyed and betrayed, establishes the principle of divine retribution in which wickedness returns upon the perpetrator. This verse indicates that judgment operates through a law of reciprocal justice, in which those who have destroyed others will themselves experience destruction. The announcement that those who betray will themselves be betrayed suggests that the moral order has a built-in mechanism of justice, and that the perpetrator cannot escape the consequences of their actions. The verse establishes the framework for the judgment oracle that follows, indicating that God will bring about a reversal in which those who have implemented destruction will experience it themselves.
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