John Calvin Commentary Obadiah 1:16

"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." — Obadiah 1:16 (ASV)

Here Obadiah proceeds further and says that God would revenge the wrongs done to His Church. The declaration in the last verse was general, Behold, on all the nations the day of Jehovah is near; as then you have done, God will repay you; but now he shows that this would be because God purposed to defend His own servants (clientes — clients); and as they had been cruelly treated, He would become the avenger of their wrongs; As then you have drunk on my holy mountain, and so on.

The Prophet, I have no doubt, taking a part for the whole, included in the word "drink" their triumphs and rejoicings. As then you have rejoiced on my holy mountain, so also all the nations shall drink and continue their excess; they shall drink up, so that you shall utterly perish.

But the Prophet appears to me evidently to add here a proof of their avariciousness. He had shortly before accused the Idumeans of having taken away a part of the spoil, together with the foreign nations, when the miserable Jews were plundered. So also, he says now, You have drunk, in token of triumph and rejoicing.

You have then drunk wine on my holy mountain: now all the nations shall drink. This latter drinking is to be taken in a sense different from the former. What then? Drink they shall, and drink up, that is, “They shall consume all your substance.” And he afterwards adds, And drink they shall continually; and they shall be as though they had not been, that is, they shall not cease to eat and to drink until they shall consume whatever is among you.

He then intimates that the Idumeans, who had enriched themselves with the spoils of their brethren and who had also kept feastings in token of their joy on the holy mountain, would hereafter be the food of others, for all the nations would drink, and drink them up. To drink then here is the same as to consume.

It follows (for I am under the necessity of finishing this prophecy today, and time, I hope, will allow me) —