Zechariah 5
5
Vision Six: The Flying Scroll
1 Then I turned to look, and there was a flying scroll! 2 Someone asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”#tn Heb “twenty cubits…ten cubits” (so NAB, NRSV). These dimensions (“thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide”) can hardly be referring to the scroll when unrolled since that would be all out of proportion to the normal ratio, in which the scroll would be 10 to 15 times as long as it was wide. More likely, the scroll is 15 feet thick when rolled, a hyperbole expressing the enormous amount and the profound significance of the information it contains. 3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse#tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21). traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals#sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law. will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”
Vision Seven: The Ephah
5 After this the angelic messenger#tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9. 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#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. that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’#tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (’avonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (’enam, “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. 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#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) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout. 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#tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV, CEV). for her in the land of Babylonia.#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). When it is finished, she will be placed there in her own residence.”
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Zechariah 5: NET
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Zechariah 5
5
The Vision of the Flying Scroll
1Again I lifted up my eyes and saw before me a flying scroll.
2“What do you see?” asked the angel.
“I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.#5:2 The flying scroll was approximately 30 feet long and 15 feet wide (9.1 meters long and 4.6 meters wide).”
3Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed. 4I will send it out, declares the Lord of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”
The Vision of the Woman in a Basket
5Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”
6“What is it?” I asked.
And he replied, “A measuring basket #5:6 Or An ephah is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity #5:6 One Hebrew manuscript, LXX, and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts their appearance or (literally) their eye in all the land.”
7And behold, the cover of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.
8“This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening.
9Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women approaching, with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
10“Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.
11“To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,#5:11 That is, Babylonia” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.