“the portion of their cup.” This Hebrew idiom is based on the custom of someone being passed a cup to drink from at mealtime. Drinking at meals in biblical times was generally not done as it is today, when every person gets their own cup to drink from. Usually, there was just a common cup and it was passed around. Indeed, it was not until recent times that cups could be made cheaply enough for everyone to have one. In fact, the English word “cupboard,” which now refers to a kind of storage closet for dishes, was originally a “cup board,” a board or shelf close to the dining table upon which the cup with the common drink was set during the meal. Then, when someone wanted a drink, the cup was taken from the “cup board” and passed to them.

We see the common cup at a meal at the Last Supper, when Jesus took a cup of wine, drank from it, and passed it around. We also see this alluded to when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” Jesus was asking that he be allowed to not partake of the “cup” that God was passing to him.

Here in Psalm 11:6, the psalmist points out that when the Lord of the table passes the cup to the wicked, the portion of their cup will be blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind. They will burn up in the Lake of Fire.

[For more on annihilation in the Lake of Fire, see Appendix 4: “Annihilation in the Lake of Fire.”]