For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and he pours out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall drain them down, and drink them.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
10. "For the cup in the hand of the Lord ofpure wine is full of mixed" (ver. 8). Justly so. "And He hath poured out of this Upon thisman; nevertheless, the dreg thereof hath notbeen emptied; there shall drink all the sinners of earth." Let us be somewhat recruited; there is here some obscurity. ...The first question that meeteth us is this, "of pure wine it is full of mixed." How "of pure," if "of mixed"? But when he saith, "the cup in the hand of the Lord" (to men instructed in the Church of Christ I am speaking), ye ought not indeed to paint in your heart God as it were circumscribed with a human form, lest, though the temples are shut up, ye forge images in your hearts. This cup therefore doth signify something. We will find out this. But "in the hand of the Lord," is, in the power of the Lord. For the hand of God is spoken of for the power of God. For even in reference to men ofttimes is said, in hand he hath it: that is, in his power he hath it, when he chooseth he doth it. "Of pu...
Drink. The just themselves shall suffer something. But their part will be comparatively the clear wine, while sinners shall have the dregs. Many suppose that God holds in his had two cups, which he mixes according to each one's deserts. So the Septuagint, Syriac, St. Augustine, seem to intimate. Jupiter is thus represented with two barrels of goods and evils near his throne. (Homer, Iliad xxiv.)
But most interpreters suppose that only one chalice is here specified, filled with red wine, the sediment being reserved for sinners, though it was usually thrown away at feasts. Wine was mixed with water in those hot countries. (Calmet)
Yet here the mixture is of a different nature. (Haydock)
Fire, (Psalm x. 7.; Menochius) gall, brimestone, compose the bitter chalice of the damned, who will never arrive at the term of their inexpressible misery. In this life, sinners are frequently punished: but their sufferings do not end here. They shall experience a variety of torments in heat and cold, ...
