Zechariah 5:5-11
New English Translation
Vision Seven: The Ephah
5 After this the angelic messenger[a] who had been speaking to me went out and said, “Look, see what is leaving.” 6 I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain[b] that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’[c] throughout all the earth.” 7 Then a round lead cover was raised up, revealing a woman sitting inside the basket. 8 He then said, “This woman represents wickedness,” and he pushed her down into the basket and placed the lead cover on top. 9 Then I looked again and saw two women[d] going forth with the wind in their wings (they had wings like those of a stork), and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky. 10 I asked the messenger who was speaking to me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He replied, “To build a temple[e] for her in the land of Babylonia.[f] When it is finished, she will be placed there in her own residence.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Zechariah 5:5 tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.
- Zechariah 5:6 tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.
- Zechariah 5:6 tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (ʿavonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (ʿenam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.
- Zechariah 5:9 sn Here two women appear as the agents of the Lord because the whole scene is feminine in nature. The Hebrew word for “wickedness” in v. 8 (רִשְׁעָה, rishʿah) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout.
- Zechariah 5:11 tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV, CEV).
- Zechariah 5:11 sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (Gen 10:10). Babylon throughout the Bible symbolizes the focus of anti-God sentiment and activity (Gen 11:4; 14:1; Isa 13-14; 47:1-3; Jer 50-51; Rev 14:8; 17:1, 5, 18; 18:21).
Zechariah 5:5-11
International Standard Version
The Vision of the Basket
5 Then the angel who had been talking with me stepped forward and told me, “Please look up and see what’s going out.”
6 So I asked, “What is it?”[a]
He replied, “This is a basket[b] making its appearance.” He also said, “This is what it appears to be in[c] the entire land.”
The Vision of the Woman in the Basket
7 Look, a round lead cover was being lifted, and there was one woman seated inside the basket! 8 And the angel[d] said, “This is evil!” So he shoved her back into the basket and snapped the round, lead cover over the opening.
The Vision of the Two Winged Women
9 Then I looked up to see two women coming forward with the wind filling their wings. (They had wings like those of a stork.) They took up the basket, holding it between the earth and sky.
10 So I asked the angel who was talking to me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
11 He answered me, “To the land of Shinar,[e] so they can build a temple to the woman in the basket.[f] Then when its preparations are complete, the basket[g] will be set there in its place.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Zechariah 5:6 Lit. is she
- Zechariah 5:6 Lit. ephah; i.e. a measure of dry grain about 20 dry quarts in capacity; and so throughout the chapter
- Zechariah 5:6 Lit. is the eyes in
- Zechariah 5:8 Lit. he
- Zechariah 5:11 I.e. the Babylon area
- Zechariah 5:11 Lit. to her
- Zechariah 5:11 Lit. complete, it
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