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Zechariah 5

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The Vision of the Flying Scroll 1–4

1
Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying roll. ​
2
And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. ​
3
Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it. ​
4
I will cause it to go forth, saith Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. ​

The Vision of the Woman in the Ephah 5–11

5
Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6
And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land ​
7
(and, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. ​
8
And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. ​
9
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. ​
10
Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11
And he said unto me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Zechariah 5

Verse 1

a flying roll — Megillah, a scroll, the word for the roll Jeremiah wrote (Jer 36:2) and for the one Ezekiel saw, 'written within and without', with 'lamentations, and mourning, and woe' (Ezek 2:9–10). Here it is not carried but flies (uph, the verb used of birds), going out over the land as v.3 says.

Verse 2

twenty cubits… ten cubits — The size is given in the prophet's own answer to the question 'What seest thou?' It is the measure of the porch before Solomon's temple: 'twenty cubits was the length thereof… and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house' (1 Kgs 6:3).

Verse 3

the curse — Alah, the oath-curse of the covenant: 'all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him' (Deut 29:20); Daniel 9:11 says it 'is poured upon us'. The two sins named, stealing and false swearing, answer 'Thou shalt not steal' and the commandment on the LORD's name (Ex 20:15, 7). 'Cut off' is naqah, to be cleared out.

Verse 4

the timber thereof and the stones thereof — A house stripped of 'the stones of it, and the timber thereof' recalls the house with the plague in Lev 14:45. Swearing 'by my name falsely' is the sin forbidden in Lev 19:12. 'Remain' is lun, to lodge for the night: the curse stays where it has entered.

Verse 6

an ephah — Eyphah, the dry measure, a tenth of a homer (Ezek 45:11), used in buying and selling. The law required 'a just ephah' (Lev 19:36), and 'the scant measure that is abominable' is condemned in Mic 6:10. 'Resemblance' is literally 'eye', the look of the thing 'through all the earth'.

Verse 7

a talent of lead — Kikkar, a round disc, the word also used for the talent weight. The lead (opheret) is the cover lifted from the ephah, showing the woman sitting in it. Lead is the metal in Israel's song, where the Egyptians 'sank as lead in the mighty waters' (Ex 15:10): heavy, and holding down.

Verse 8

This is wickedness — Rish'ah is a feminine noun, which is why she is a woman. The angel throws her back into the ephah and casts 'the weight of lead' on its mouth (literally the stone of lead). The word is Moses' for the sin of the nations whom the LORD drove out before Israel (Deut 9:4–5).

Verse 9

like the wings of a stork — Chasidah, the stork, whose name is the feminine of the word for the kind or faithful one. It is one of the unclean birds (Lev 11:19), and it 'knoweth her appointed times' (Jer 8:7). The wind in the women's wings carries the ephah 'between the earth and the heaven'.

Verse 11

the land of Shinar — The country of Babylon: Babel began there (Gen 10:10), men found a plain there (Gen 11:2), and Nebuchadnezzar carried the vessels of the LORD's house there 'to the house of his god' (Dan 1:2). Zion is told, 'Deliver thyself… that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon' (Zech 2:7).