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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.

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.

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