The act of drinking serves as a powerful metaphor for the turning wheel of history, where a cup of disaster passes from one hand to another. A stark parallel is drawn between past events on the Temple Mount and the future punishment awaiting the nations of the world.
There are two primary approaches regarding who originally drank on God's holy mountain. One perspective suggests that the message is directed at the nations of the world, particularly Edom. In this view, the drinking represents the victory banquets, celebrations, and malicious joy that the nations indulged in over the destruction of Jerusalem [רש״י, רד״ק, צאינה וראינה, שטיינזלץ]. Another approach, however, maintains that the message is actually addressed to the Israelites. According to this line of thought, the drinking is not an expression of joy, but a profound symbol of suffering. Just as the Israelites were forced to drink a cup of poison and disaster on God's holy mountain during their destruction, the nations that harmed them will eventually be forced to drink from that very same cup of wrath and anger [אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד, אברבנאל]. This concept aligns with other prophetic visions where the nations are made to drink a cup of divine wrath [מלבי״ם]. Furthermore, just as the nations once drank and rejoiced on God's mountain, they will ultimately drink from the cup of disaster on the mountain of Esau [אבן עזרא בשם יפת].
The impending punishment for these nations will be relentless. Their drinking will be continuous and without pause, meaning they will suffer a series of disasters and ruins one after another throughout history, until the wicked among them are completely finished [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם, מנחת שי].
As they consume this bitter drink of disaster, two complementary effects will take hold. On a physical level, the nations will swallow and choke on the harshness of their punishment [רד״ק, אבן עזרא, שטיינזלץ, צאינה וראינה]. On a mental level, the disaster will be so severe that it will plunge them into chaos and confusion. Like an intoxicating drink that dulls the mind and ruins reason, the punishment will leave them babbling and muttering like drunkards [רש״י, מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, מלבי״ם].
Ultimately, this process leads to complete annihilation. The primary approach among commentators is that the nations which harmed Israel will be utterly wiped out. Their destruction will be so absolute that their former place will be unrecognized, and they will be erased from the world as if they had never existed at all.