The ultimate downfall of a wicked or foolish person is marked by a tragic irony: the very wealth and property they spent their lives accumulating ultimately slip from their grasp into the hands of others. Their hard work is lost, and the crops they planted are consumed by strangers. The primary approach among commentators is that weak, impoverished individuals will eventually overpower the wicked, consuming their harvest without any fear [אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד, שטיינזלץ]. Some view this as an act of cosmic justice, where the scavengers are actually the very people the wicked oppressed and robbed during their lifetime, returning after the oppressor's death to reclaim what is rightfully theirs [רש״י]. Alternatively, these takers might be poor individuals who once relied on the fool's charity, but now take advantage of his orphaned children to plunder their inheritance [אלשיך]. In stark contrast, another perspective suggests that it is the wicked person himself who consumes his own harvest, afflicted by a curse of perpetual, unquenchable hunger [רמב״ן].
The plundering of the wicked's estate is often understood as a chaotic event where spoils are taken directly from among thorns. Most commentators explain this literally, suggesting either that the looters are entirely unafraid, brazenly taking the grain without even bothering to sift it from the brambles [מצודת דוד], or that the wicked person's field is inherently cursed, yielding only thorns and thistles [רמב״ן, אבן עזרא]. Other interpretations suggest the crops are gathered into baskets [שטיינזלץ], or that the confiscation involves weapons and shields [רש״י, רמב״ן]. In this latter view, the harvest is seized by armed warriors, or by a judge who uses forceful authority to rescue the poor from the wicked person's weapons. An allegorical approach even compares the looter himself to a sharp, piercing thorn [אלשיך].
The ruin of the wicked is completed as their wealth is aggressively swallowed up. The primary approach among commentators is that those who consume this wealth are thirsty individuals—the very victims the wicked deprived and left parched during their lifetime, who now swallow up the assets in return [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד, אבן עזרא, רמב״ן, שטיינזלץ]. Others identify these consumers as violent, lawless men, known for their wild hair, who violently confiscate the property [רלב״ג]. A more poetic interpretation suggests that the wealth itself actively yearns and hopes to escape the grip of the wicked, seeking to be taken by others [אלשיך].
Standing entirely apart from these views is an interpretation that shifts the focus from the punishment of the wicked to the reward of the upright [מלבי״ם]. Rather than a tale of destruction, this perspective frames the events as a story of an honest, hardworking individual. This upright person is the hungry one who waits patiently, laboring tirelessly to eat his own harvest and carefully sifting his grain from the thorns. Through his honest toil, it is ultimately this righteous person who will swallow up the amassed fortunes of the fools and the wicked. Their ill-gotten wealth will not endure for their children, but will instead be redirected into the deserving hands of the honest man.