Zechariah 5:5-11

A Vision of a Woman in a Basket

5 ¹Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, ²"Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out."

6 And I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is ³the basket^[a] that is going out." And he said, "This is their iniquity^[b] in all the land."

7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket!

8 And he said, "This is Wickedness." And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down ⁴the leaden weight on its opening.

9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! ⁵The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.

10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, "Where are they taking the basket?"

11 He said to me, "To the ⁶land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base."

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Zechariah 5:5-11 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 6

1. Zechariah 1:9
2. [ver. 1, 9; Zechariah 6:1]
3. [Ezekiel 45:11]
4. [See ver. 6 above]
5. [Hosea 4:19]
6. See Genesis 11:2

Footnotes 2

[a]. Hebrew ephah; also verses 7-11. An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
[b]. One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts eye

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.