Zechariah 5

1 And I was converted, and raised mine eyes, and saw, and lo! a book flying. (And I turned, and raised up my eyes, and lo! I saw a flying book/and lo! I saw a scroll flying through the air.)

2 And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, Lo! I see a book flying; the length thereof was of twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof of ten cubits. (And I said, Lo! I see a flying book/Lo! I see a scroll flying through the air; its length was twenty cubits, and its breadth was ten cubits.)

3 And he said to me, This is the curse, that goeth on the face of all (the) earth; for each thief shall be deemed, as it is written there; and each man swearing (falsely) shall be deemed of this also. (And he said to me, This is the curse, that goeth forth over the face of all the earth; for each thief shall be judged, as it is written there; and each person who falsely sweareth shall also be judged by this, and swept away.)

4 I shall lead out it, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall come to the house of a thief, and to the house of him that sweareth falsely in my name; and it shall dwell in the middle of his house, and shall waste him, and his trees, and his stones. (I have sent it out, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall come to the thief's house, and to the house of him who sweareth falsely in my name; and it shall stay, or remain, in the midst of his house, and it shall destroy him, and his wood, or his timber, and his stones.)

5 And the angel went out, that spake in me (who spoke to me), and said to me, Raise (up) thine eyes, and see, what this thing is that goeth out.

6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an amphora, either a pot, going out. And he said, This is the eye of them in all earth (And he said, This is their sin in all the earth).

7 And lo! a talent of lead was borne (up from it); and lo! a woman (was) sitting in (the) middle of the pot.

8 And he said, This is unpiety, either unfaithfulness. And he casted down her in(to) the middle of the pot, and sent a gobbet of lead into the mouth thereof. (And he said, This is Unrighteousness, or Wickedness. And he threw her down into the midst of the pot, and put the piece of lead back into the mouth of the pot.)

9 And I raised mine eyes, and saw, and lo! two women going out, and a spirit in the wings of them; and they had wings as the wings of a kite, and raised the pot betwixt heaven and earth. (And I raised up my eyes, and saw, and lo! two women going out, and the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they raised up the pot between heaven and the earth.)

10 And I said to the angel that spake in me, Whither bear these the pot? (And I said to the angel who spoke to me, Where shall they take the pot?)

11 And he said to me, That an house be builded thereto in the land of Shinar, and be stablished, and set there on his foundament. (And he said to me, To the land of Shinar, or to Babylon, so that a house, or a temple, can be built for it, and it can be established, and put there upon its own foundation, or upon its own base.)

Zechariah 5 Commentary

Chapter 5

The vision of a flying roll. (1-4) The vision of a woman and an ephah. (5-11)

Verses 1-4 The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are rolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and gospel; they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, Ps. 147:15 . This flying roll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against sinners. Oh that we saw with an eye of faith the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams of God's favour, but big with thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings of a Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law, being himself made a curse for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and families; especially the doing hurt to others and false witness. Who knows the power of God's anger? God's curse cannot be kept out by bars or locks. While one part of the curse of God ruins the substance of the sinner, another part will rest on the soul, and sink it to everlasting punishment. All are transgressors of the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of God, except we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel.

Verses 5-11 In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon the sinner as a weight of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they filled the measure of their iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting his gospel. Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it, carried away to some far country. This intimates that the Jews should be hurried out of their own land, and forced to dwell in far countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah shall be firmly placed, and their sufferings shall continue far longer than in their late captivity. Blindness is happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief. Let sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; for the more they multiply crimes, the faster the measure fills.

Chapter Summary

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.