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Sixth Vision: A Flying Scroll

When I looked the next time, I saw a flying scroll,[a] and the angel asked, “What do you see?”

“A flying scroll,” I answered. “About nine meters long and four and a half meters wide.”

Then he told me:

This scroll puts a curse on everyone in the land who steals or tells lies. The writing on one side tells about the destruction of those who steal, while the writing on the other side tells about the destruction of those who lie.

The Lord All-Powerful has said, “I am sending this scroll into the house of everyone who is a robber or tells lies in my name, and it will remain there until every piece of wood and stone in that house crumbles.”

Seventh Vision: A Woman in a Basket

Now the angel who was there to explain the visions came over and said, “Look up and tell me what you see coming.”

“I don't know what it is,” was my reply.

“It's a big basket,” he said. “And it shows what everyone in the land has in mind.”[b]

The lead cover of the basket was opened, and in the basket was a woman. “This woman represents evil,” the angel explained. Then he threw her back into the basket and slammed the heavy cover down tight.

Right after this I saw two women coming through the sky with wings outstretched like a stork in the wind. Suddenly they lifted the basket into the air, 10 and I asked the angel, “Where are they taking the basket?”

11 “To Babylonia,”[c] he answered, “where they will build a house for the basket and set it down inside.”

Footnotes

  1. 5.1 scroll: A roll of paper or special leather used for writing on.
  2. 5.6 what … mind: Hebrew; one ancient translation “the sin of everyone in the land.”
  3. 5.11 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “Shinar,” an ancient name for Babylonia.

The Flying Scroll

I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.(A)

He asked me, “What do you see?”(B)

I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.[a]

And he said to me, “This is the curse(C) that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief(D) will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely(E) will be banished. The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely(F) by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.(G)’”

The Woman in a Basket

Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”

I asked, “What is it?”

He replied, “It is a basket.(H)” And he added, “This is the iniquity[b] of the people throughout the land.”

Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.(I)

Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork,(J) and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

11 He replied, “To the country of Babylonia[c](K) to build a house(L) for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”(M)

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 5:2 That is, about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide or about 9 meters long and 4.5 meters wide
  2. Zechariah 5:6 Or appearance
  3. Zechariah 5:11 Hebrew Shinar

Eighth Vision: Four Chariots

Finally, I looked up and saw four chariots coming from between two bronze mountains. (A) The first chariot was pulled by red horses, and the second by black horses; (B) the third chariot was pulled by white horses, and the fourth by spotted gray[a] horses.

“Sir,” I asked the angel. “What do these stand for?”

(C) Then he explained, “These are the four winds[b] of heaven, and now they are going out, after presenting themselves to the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with black horses goes toward the north, the chariot with white horses goes toward the west,[c] and the one with spotted horses goes toward the south.”

The horses came out eager to patrol the earth, and the angel told them, “Start patrolling the earth.”

When they had gone on their way, he shouted to me, “Those that have gone to the country in the north will do what the Lord's Spirit[d] wants them to do there.”[e]

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Footnotes

  1. 6.3 spotted gray: Or “strong.”
  2. 6.5 winds: Or “spirits.” The Hebrew word may mean either.
  3. 6.6 goes toward the west: Or “follows behind.”
  4. 6.8 Lord's Spirit: Or “Lord.”
  5. 6.8 will do … to do there: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Four Chariots

I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots(A) coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black,(B) the third white,(C) and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[a](D) of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.(E) The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,[b] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth.(F) And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit[c] rest(G) in the land of the north.”(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 6:5 Or winds
  2. Zechariah 6:6 Or horses after them
  3. Zechariah 6:8 Or spirit