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Obadiah

1 The vision that Obadiah saw. The Sovereign Lord says this concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord. An envoy was sent among the nations,⁠ saying, “Arise! Let us make war against Edom!” 2 The Lord says, “Look! I will make you a weak nation; you will be greatly despised!⁠ 3 Your presumptuous heart has deceived you—you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, whose home is high in the mountains. You think to yourself, ‘No one can bring me down to the ground!’ 4 Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, even if you were to make your nest among the stars, I can bring you down even from there!”⁠ says the Lord. 5 “If thieves came to rob you during the night, they would steal only as much as they wanted. If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, they would leave some behind for the poor.⁠ But you will be totally destroyed! 6 How the people of Esau will be thoroughly plundered! Their hidden valuables will be ransacked! 7 All your allies will force you from your homeland! Your treaty partners will deceive you and overpower you.⁠ Your trusted friends will set an ambush for you that will take you by surprise!⁠ 8 “At that time,” the Lord says, “I will destroy the wise sages of Edom, the advisers from Esau’s mountain. 9 Your warriors will be shattered, O Teman, so that everyone will be destroyed from Esau’s mountain!⁠ 10 “Because you violently slaughtered your relatives, the people of Jacob,⁠ shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed forever.⁠ 11 You stood aloof while strangers took his army captive and foreigners advanced to his gates. When they cast lots over Jerusalem, you behaved as though you were in league with them.⁠ 12 You should not have gloated when your relatives suffered calamity.⁠ You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. You should not have boasted when they suffered adversity. 13 You should not have entered the city of my people when they experienced distress. You should not have joined in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. You should not have looted their wealth when they endured distress. 14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road to slaughter those trying to escape.⁠ You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity. 15 “For the day of the Lord is approaching for all the nations! Just as you have done, so it will be done to you. You will get exactly what your deeds deserve.⁠ 16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been.⁠ 17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, and it will be a holy place once again.⁠ The descendants of Jacob will conquer those who had conquered them.⁠ 18 The descendants of Jacob will be a fire and the descendants of Joseph a flame. The descendants of Esau will be like stubble. They will burn them up and devour them. There will not be a single survivor of the descendants of Esau!” Indeed, the Lord has spoken it. 19 The people of the Negev will take possession of Esau’s mountain,⁠ and the people of the foothills will take possession of the land of the Philistines. They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and the people of Benjamin will take possession of Gilead. 20 The exiles of this fortress of the people of Israel will take possession of what belongs to the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad⁠ will take possession of the towns of the Negev. 21 Those who have been delivered will go up on Mount Zion in order to rule over Esau’s mountain. Then the Lord will reign as King!

Texts in conversation

Compare Obadiah 1:16 and Jeremiah 25:15

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Jeremiah describes the nations forced to drink a cup filled with the wine of wrath, leaving them staggering and drunk as war consumes them. Obadiah uses the same imagery, portraying the nations drinking on Zion’s mountain until they vanish in judgment.

Passages

Obadiah 1:16

Hebrew Bible
14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road to slaughter those trying to escape. You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity. 15 “For the day of the Lord is approaching for all the nations! Just as you have done, so it will be done to you. You will get exactly what your deeds deserve. 16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been. 17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, and it will be a holy place once again. The descendants of Jacob will conquer those who had conquered them. 18 The descendants of Jacob will be a fire and the descendants of Joseph a flame. The descendants of Esau will be like stubble. They will burn them up and devour them. There will not be a single survivor of the descendants of Esau!” Indeed, the Lord has spoken it.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Obadiah

Jeremiah 25:15

Hebrew Bible
13 I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation too. I will repay them for all they have done.’” 15 So the Lord, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision: “Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them.” 17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

References

"... The use of water in drinking trials was by no means restricted to Israelite territory. Tikva Frymer-Kensky found evidence for it in Susa texts, and could also point out a Hittite parallel ... There are also a few Neo-Assyrian texts which bear on the theme. They show that a promissory oath (as contrasted with the assertive oath) could also be accompanied by “drinking water from a ṣarṣaru-jar.” The oath was thus coupled with a drinking trial. In other words: the perjurer was thus exposed to a curse (referred to in Hebrew as qĕlālâ or ᴐālâ) that would “enter his innards like water” (Psalm 109:18). There is no need to assume that some sort of poison was added to the water, since in the ancient Near East water by itself was often unhealthy. A Babylonian extispicy text contains the following apodosis, apparently laid in the mouth of a king: “My army will be overcome by thirst on a campaign it will go on, will drink bad water and will die.” Less destructive, but still “causing miscarriages” (mĕšakkelet), is the water in the vicinity of Jericho (2 Kings 2:19). In such circumstances water that had been neither filtered nor boiled could well serve as a judgement drink. Most of the biblical allusions to drinking trials, however, seem to envisage the use of wine. The relevant texts are often referred to as the “cup of wrath” passages. (Isaiah 51:17-23; Jeremiah 25:15-29; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Obadiah 16; Habakkuk 2:15-16; Zechariah 12:2; Psalm 60:5; Lamentations 4:21) They conjure up the image of an “anti-banquet” (McKane) during which Yahweh provides his guests with poisonous food and drink instead of wholesome food and wine that cheers the heart. A special emphasis falls on the “cup” or “chalice”. It apparently contains wine (Jeremiah 25:15; Psalm 75:9), but this is “wine of wrath” (Jeremiah 25:15) which causes “staggering” ..."
Karel Van der Toorn, God in Context: Selected Essays on Society and Religion in the Early Middle East (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), 78.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Obadiah 1:16 and Jeremiah 25:15

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