Add parallel Print Page Options

The Sixth Vision: A Flying Scroll

Again I lifted up my eyes and looked. I saw a flying scroll!

He asked me, “What do you see?”

I said, “I see a flying scroll! It is thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”[a]

Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of the whole earth: On the basis of the curse, everyone who steals will be expelled in one direction, and everyone who swears falsely will be expelled in the other direction.[b] I will send it out, declares the Lord of Armies, and it will go to the house of the thief and to the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and consume it, both wood and stone.”

The Seventh Vision: A Woman in a Basket

Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said to me, “Lift up your eyes, now, and see what is going out.”

So I asked, “What is it?”

He replied, “This is the basket[c] that is going out.”

He also said, “This is their guilt[d] in all the earth.”

As I watched, the lead cover was lifted, and I saw that there was a woman sitting inside the basket.

He said, “This is Wickedness.” Then he pushed her down inside the basket, and he pushed the lead weight onto its opening.

Then I lifted up my eyes and looked again. There were two women coming toward me! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork. They lifted up the basket between the earth and the heavens.

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

11 He told me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar.[e] When it is ready, it will be set there on its foundation.”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 5:2 Twenty cubits by ten cubits
  2. Zechariah 5:3 Another interpretation is that this verse refers to writing on two sides of the scroll, rather than to two directions.
  3. Zechariah 5:6 Hebrew ephah, here and in verses 7-11
  4. Zechariah 5:6 The translation follows Greek and Syriac manuscripts and one Hebrew manuscript. Other Hebrew manuscripts read their eyes. In Hebrew script the words eye and guilt look very much alike.
  5. Zechariah 5:11 That is, Babylon

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