A Flying Scroll

5 I looked up again and saw a scroll flying through the air.

² “What do you see?” the angel asked.

“I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.^[a]”

³ Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side of the scroll says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land. ⁴ And this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely using my name. And my curse will remain in that house and completely destroy it—even its timbers and stones.”

A Woman in a Basket

⁵ Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, “Look up and see what’s coming.”

⁶ “What is it?” I asked.

He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain,^[b] and it’s filled with the sins^[c] of everyone throughout the land.”

⁷ Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. ⁸ The angel said, “The woman’s name is Wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again.

⁹ Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky.

¹⁰ “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel.

¹¹ He replied, “To the land of Babylonia,^[d] where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.”