Zechariah 5:1-4

The Flying Scroll

1 Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying 1scroll.
2 And he said to me, "2What do you see?" And I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits."
3 Then he said to me, "This is the 3curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who 4steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who 5swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.
4 "I will 6make it go forth," declares the LORD of hosts, "and it will 7enter the house of the 8thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and 9consume it with its timber and stones."

Zechariah 5:1-4 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 9

  • 1. Jeremiah 36:2; Ezekiel 2:9; Revelation 5:1
  • 2. Zechariah 4:2
  • 3. Isaiah 24:6; Isaiah 43:28; Jeremiah 26:6
  • 4. Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 19:11; Malachi 3:8, 9
  • 5. Leviticus 19:12; Isaiah 48:1; Jeremiah 5:2; Zechariah 5:4
  • 6. Malachi 3:5
  • 7. Hosea 4:2, 3
  • 8. Jeremiah 2:26
  • 9. Leviticus 14:34, 35; Job 18:15

Footnotes 4

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.