Add parallel Print Page Options

A Flying Scroll

Then I lifted up my eyes again and saw, and behold, a flying (A)scroll. And he said to me, “(B)What do you see?” And I said, “I see a flying scroll; its length is [a]twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the (C)curse that is going forth over the face of the whole [b]land; surely everyone who (D)steals will be [c]purged away according to [d]the writing on one side, and everyone who (E)swears will be [e]purged away according to the writing on the other side. I will (F)make it go forth,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “and it will (G)enter the house of the (H)thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and (I)consume it with its timber and stones.”

A Woman in an Ephah

Then (J)the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.” So I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the [f](K)ephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their [g]appearance in all the [h]land (and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.” Then he said, “This is (L)Wickedness!” And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and threw the lead weight on its [i]opening. Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a (M)stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. 10 And I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” 11 Then he said to me, “To build a [j]house for her in the land of (N)Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 5:2 Approx. 30 ft. long and 15 ft. wide or 9 m and 4.5 m
  2. Zechariah 5:3 Or earth
  3. Zechariah 5:3 Lit free (from covenant community), cf. Gen 24:8, 41
  4. Zechariah 5:3 Lit it
  5. Zechariah 5:3 Lit free (from covenant community), cf. Gen 24:8, 41
  6. Zechariah 5:6 A vessel containing approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
  7. Zechariah 5:6 Lit eye; some ancient versions iniquity
  8. Zechariah 5:6 Or earth
  9. Zechariah 5:8 Lit mouth
  10. Zechariah 5:11 Or temple

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.