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Sinners Will Be Separated from the Lord’s People

I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.

The angel asked me, “What do you see?”

“I see a flying scroll,” I answered. “It’s 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”

Then he said to me, “This is a curse that will go out all over the earth. The one side of the scroll says that every thief will be forced away. The other side of the scroll says that everyone who takes an oath will be forced away. I will send out a curse, declares Yahweh Tsebaoth, and it will enter the houses of thieves and the houses of those who take oaths in my name. It will stay in their houses and destroy the timber and stone.”

Wickedness Will Be Removed from the Land

The angel who was speaking with me came forward. He said, “Look up, and see what’s coming.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“A basket is coming,” he said. Then he added, “This is what the people’s sins look like all over the earth.”[a] A lead cover on the basket was raised, and a woman was sitting in the basket. The angel said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and forced the lead cover down on top of it.

I looked up and saw two women coming forward with wind in their wings. They had wings like those of a stork. They carried the basket into the sky.

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

11 He answered me, “They are going to build a house for it in Shinar [Babylonia]. When the house is ready, they will set the basket there on a stand.”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 5:6 One Hebrew manuscript, Greek, Syriac; other Hebrew manuscripts “This is their eye all over the earth.”

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