Obadiah 1:15 (KJV)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Obadiah 1:13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Obadiah 1:14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

Obadiah 1:15 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 1:16 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.

Obadiah 1:17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lord", "near", "upon", "heathen", "thou", "hast", "done", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lord" and "near", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "Neither shouldest thou have stood in the..." into verse 16's "For as ye have drunk upon my...", so "lord" and "near" belong inside that flow. In Obadiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "lord" and "near" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.