Zechariah 5:5-11

Zechariah’s Seventh Vision

5 And the angel who was speaking to me went out, and he said to me, "{Please look up}! See what this [is] going out."
6 And I asked, "What [is] it?" And he said, "This [is] a basket going out. And he said, "This [is] their iniquity throughout all the earth.
7 And look, the lead cover was lifted and a woman [was] sitting inside the basket.
8 And he said, "This [is] Wickedness!" And he thrust her [back down] into the basket, and threw the lead cover on top of it.
9 And I {looked up} and saw, and look!--two women coming forward, and [the] wind [was] in their wings, and they had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.
10 And I asked the angel who was talking to me, "Where [are] they taking the basket?"
11 And he said to me, "To build for it a house in the land of Shinar, and [when] it is put in place, it will be placed there on its site."

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.

Footnotes 12

  • [a]. Literally "Lift, please, your eyes!"
  • [b]. Or "an ephah," a measure of grain
  • [c]. Hebrew "eye"; other ancient versions (LXX, Syriac) read "iniquity"
  • [d]. Or "ephah," a measure of grain
  • [e]. Or "ephah," a measure of grain
  • [f]. That is, on top of the "basket" or "ephah"
  • [g]. Literally "lifted up my eyes"
  • [h]. Or "ephah," a measure of grain
  • [i]. Or "heaven"
  • [j]. Or "ephah," a measure of grain
  • [k]. Or "temple"
  • [l]. That is, Babylon (Gen 11:2)
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.