What Does Obadiah 1:16 Mean in the King James?

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.

Obadiah 1:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The same Hebrew verb turns drinking upon what is set apart into the nations’ repeated drinking, ending with their becoming as though they had not been.

THE MEANING

The verse meets you with a present pattern: what is drunk upon the set-apart returns as repeated drinking. The outcome stays severe; those who drink become as though they had not been.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that what is taken upon what is set apart can be consumed without consequence.

THE ROOT

שְׁתִיתֶם

shethitem from shatah

GROWS FROM

שתה

To drink.

“drunk / drink” in this verse is shethitem from shatah. The opening “ye have drunk” and the nations’ “drink” use the same root, so the verse turns one act back upon the drinkers. Its repetition builds toward the final phrase, where the drinkers are as though they had not been.

ALSO GROWS

mishteh: A drinking feast or banquet.

מִשְׁתֶּה

This branch shows that drinking can be a shared, celebratory act; here, the repeated drinking becomes a sentence.

shatui: Drunk or intoxicated.

שָׁתוּי

This branch names the state of one who has drunk, echoing how the verse moves from a completed act to its returning consequence.

קָדְשִׁי

qodshi

GROWS FROM

קדשׁ

To set apart as distinct or sacred.

“holy” in this verse is qodshi. Qodesh points to what is set apart, so the mountain is more than a location: it bears a claim of belonging. That makes the setting part of the verse’s reversal, the drinking happens upon what is set apart, and the response returns upon the drinkers.

ALSO GROWS

qadosh: Set apart; sacred.

קָדוֹשׁ

This adjective shares the root and names the mountain’s set-apart character.

miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.

מִקְדָּשׁ

The sanctuary grows from the same root, linking the mountain’s holiness with a place marked as belonging to God.

THE PATTERN

What is done to others returns in its own measure, becoming the doer’s portion.

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

Obadiah 1:15 · KJVThe verse states the return directly: what is done comes back upon the one who did it.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Matthew 7:2 · KJVThe measure used toward another becomes the measure returned.

Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Revelation 18:6 · KJVThe cup filled for others returns to the one who filled it, in the measure of her works.

THE THREAD

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

Jeremiah 25:15 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨שׁתה⁩ (shatah, to drink) joins the two verses: in each, the nations drink what is placed before them. Obadiah carries that drinking to its stark end, where they are as though they had not been.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us