Obadiah 1:16
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →As the nations defiled God's holy mountain, so they will drink the cup of judgment until they vanish as if they never were.
What Does Obadiah 1:16 Mean?
Drinking upon God's holy mountain pictures the nations who reveled and profaned Zion in the day of its fall. Now that act becomes a cup of its own: they shall drink judgment continually until they swallow it down and pass away, becoming as though they had not been.
The image of a cup that the nations must drink runs through the prophets as a figure of God's reckoning. What was seized in arrogance turns to judgment in the end. The verse reminds the reader that triumph built on another's desecration is hollow and passing, while God and His holy purposes endure. Earthly powers vanish; the Lord remains.