Obadiah 1:16
in Obadiah 1For as you drank on My holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and gulp it down; they will be as if they had never existed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.
KJV
For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
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This verse in Obadiah 1
Commentary
14 notes on this verseThese words "as you have drunk" indicate, I think, that the victors insolently gloried in victory. They had a festive celebration where they got drunk with their friends, boasting in praise of their part in the victory while they got drunk. And while they were drinking and singing songs and causing all manner of damage at this party, they got drunk and began to insult the other nations. "And they will descend against you," that is, the neighboring regions will attack these parties.
This site's exposition
As you have done
on Obadiah 1:15-16
"For the Day of the LORD is near for all the nations" widens the verdict to every nation. The law of measure for measure follows: "As you have done, it will be done to you; your recompense will return upon your own head." Verse 16 turns to the cup.
This site's exposition
as you drank on My holy mountain
Readers differ on who drank on the holy mountain. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear the prophet turn to Judah, who drank God's judgment in Jerusalem, while Cyril of Alexandria sees Edom drinking in revelry. Either way all the nations drink next.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
The drink of wine is called revenge, about which also blessed Jeremiah openly teaches when he says the nations will be commanded to drink even as they participated in the iniquities against my people. This is also understood from many other places that Edom will …
(Verse 15, 16.) For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations: as thou hast done, so shall it be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. LXX: For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
For the time when God will punish everyone who did evil against Israel is at hand. And he will impose grave punishment upon you just like the punishment you meted out against your brothers. "For as you drank on my holy mountain, so all the …
You have drunk on my holy mountain from the cup of wrath, which David and Ahab mixed for you. All the nations around you shall drink constantly because of the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, in the days of Hezekiah and his sons.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And it is part of the burden of Edom ( Jer. xlix. 12 ), Those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup (who had reason to promise themselves an exemption from it) have assuredly drunken, and shall Edom that is the generation of God's wrath go unpunished?
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Gracious promises to Israel; that they shall be restored and reformed, and shall be victorious over the Edomites, and become masters of their land and the lands of others of their neighbours (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the Heathen drink continually,....
Temporal deliverances are indeed wrought for us in mercy when with them there is holiness, when there is wrought in us a disposition to receive them with love and gratitude to God; when we are sanctified, they are sanctified to us.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
For as ye have drunk - This address is to the Jews. As ye have been visited and punished upon my holy mountain in Jerusalem, so shall other nations be punished in their respective countries. See Jer 49:12.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
ye . . . upon my holy mountain--a periphrasis for, "ye Jews" [MAURER], whom Obadiah now by a sudden apostrophe addresses. The clause, "upon My holy mountain," expresses the reason of the vengeance to be taken on Judah's foes; namely, that Jerusalem is God's holy mountain, the seat of His temple, and Judah His covenant-people.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For as ye have drunk - Revelry always followed pagan victory; often, desecration. The Romans bore in triumph the vessels of the second temple, Nebuchadnezzar carried away the sacred vessels of the first. Edom, in its hatred of God’s people, doubtless regarded the destruction of Jerusalem, as a victory of polytheism (the gods of the Babylonians, and their own god Coze), over God, as Hyrcanus, in his turn, required them, when conquered, to be circumcised. God’s “holy mountain is the hill of Zion,” including mount Moriah on which the temple stood. This they desecrated by idolatrous revelry, as, in contrast, it is said that, when the pagan enemy had been destroyed, “mount Zion” should “be holiness” Oba 1:17. Brutal, unfeeling, excess had been one of the sins on which Joel had declared God’s sentence Joe 3:3, “they cast lots on My people; they sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.” Pagan tempers remain the same; under like circumstances, they repeat the same circle of sins, ambition, jealousy, cruelty, bloodshed, and, when their work is done, excess, ribaldry, profaneness. The completion of sin is the commencement of punishment. “As ye,” he says, pagan yourselves and “as one of” the pagan “have drunk” in profane revelry, on the day of your brother’s calamity, “upon My holy mountain,” defiling it, “so shall all the pagan drink” continually. But what draught? a draught which shall never cease, “continually; yea, they shall drink on, and shall swallow down,” a full, large, maddening draught, whereby they shall reel and perish, “and they shall be as though they had never been” . “For whoso cleaveth not to Him Who saith, I AM, is not.” The two cups of excess and of God’s wrath are not altogether distinct. […]
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֗י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֤ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| שְׁתִיתֶם֙ | shetitem | you have drunk | H8354 → | 217 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַ֣ר | har | [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| קָדְשִׁ֔י | kodshi | holiness my | H6944 → | |
| יִשְׁתּ֥וּ | yishtu | they will drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| כָֽל־ | khol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַגּוֹיִ֖ם | hagoyim | the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| תָּמִ֑יד | tamid | continually | H8548 → | |
| וְשָׁת֣וּ | veshatu | and they will drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| וְלָע֔וּ | velau | and they will swallow | H3886 → | |
| וְהָי֖וּ | vehayu | and they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּל֥וֹא | kelo' | like not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הָיֽוּ׃ | hayu | they had been | H1961 → | 3559 times |
כִּ֗יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֤רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
שְׁתִיתֶם֙you have drunk
shetitemH8354 →217 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַ֣ר[the] mountain of
harH2022 →546 times
קָדְשִׁ֔יholiness my
kodshiH6944 →
יִשְׁתּ֥וּthey will drink
yishtuH8354 →217 times
כָֽל־all
khol-H3605 →5413 times
הַגּוֹיִ֖םthe nations
hagoyimH1471 →561 times
תָּמִ֑ידcontinually
tamidH8548 →
וְשָׁת֣וּand they will drink
veshatuH8354 →217 times
וְלָע֔וּand they will swallow
velauH3886 →
וְהָי֖וּand they will be
vehayuH1961 →3559 times
כְּל֥וֹאlike not
kelo'H3808 →5168 times
הָיֽוּ׃they had been
hayuH1961 →3559 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joel 3:17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.
it leads to
- Joel 2:27
Then you will know that I am present in Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.
- Isaiah 52:1
Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.
- Nahum 1:15
Look to the mountains—the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked will never again march through you; they will be…
- Isaiah 4:3
Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living—
- Revelation 21:27
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Joel 2:27
Through
Jeremiah 49:12For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 25:28–29
If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it!
- Jeremiah 30:11
For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will…
- Proverbs 17:5
He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
- Jeremiah 25:28–29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
About Obadiah
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Obadiah; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Obadiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH.