Zechariah 5:3-11

3 Then he said to me, "This is the 1curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who 2steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who 3swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.
4 "I will 4make it go forth," declares the LORD of hosts, "and it will 5enter the house of the 6thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and 7consume it with its timber and stones."
5 Then 8the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, "Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth."
6 I said, "What is it?" And he said, "This is the 9ephah going forth." Again he said, "This is their appearance in all the land
7 (and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah."
8 Then he said, "This is 10Wickedness!" And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.
9 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a 11stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.
10 I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "Where are they taking the ephah?"
11 Then he said to me, "To build a temple for her in the land of 12Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal."

Zechariah 5:3-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 5

This chapter treats of the judgments of God upon the wicked Jews for their sins and impieties, the measure of which was filled up, and of the execution of them, which are represented in two visions: the first is of a flying roll, which signifies the curse of God, and is described by its measure, the length being twenty cubits, and the breadth ten; and by the extent of it, it reaching to the whole earth, and particularly to thieves and false swearers, who shall be cut off by it; and by the certainty of its coming into the houses of such, and the utter desolation it should there make, Zec 5:1-4 and the other is the vision of an ephah, and a woman sitting in it, and a talent of lead cast upon the mouth of it, which signified wickedness, Zec 5:5-8 this "ephah" is seen to be lifted up between earth and heaven by two women, who are said to have wings like the wings of storks, and the wind to be in them; and who are said by the angel to carry the "ephah" into the land of Shinar, to build it a house, that it might be established and settled upon its own base, Zec 5:9-11.

Cross References 12

  • 1. Isaiah 24:6; Isaiah 43:28; Jeremiah 26:6
  • 2. Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 19:11; Malachi 3:8, 9
  • 3. Leviticus 19:12; Isaiah 48:1; Jeremiah 5:2; Zechariah 5:4
  • 4. Malachi 3:5
  • 5. Hosea 4:2, 3
  • 6. Jeremiah 2:26
  • 7. Leviticus 14:34, 35; Job 18:15
  • 8. Zechariah 1:9
  • 9. Leviticus 19:36; Amos 8:5
  • 10. Hosea 12:7; Amos 8:5; Micah 6:11
  • 11. Leviticus 11:13, 19; Psalms 104:17; Jeremiah 8:7
  • 12. Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:2; Genesis 14:1; Isaiah 11:11; Daniel 1:2

Footnotes 8

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