Zechariah 5

1 Again I lifted up my eyes and saw before me a flying scroll.

I looked up again, and I saw a scroll that was flying [through the air].

2 “What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”

The angel asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll that is [huge], (10 yards/9 meters) long and (5 yards/4.5 meters) wide.”

3 Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed.

Then he said to me, “On this scroll is written the [words that Yahweh is speaking to] curse the entire country. On [one side of] the scroll it is written that every thief will be banished. On [the other side] it is written that everyone who tells a lie when he is solemnly promising to tell the truth will also be banished from the country.

4 I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”

The Commander of the armies of angels says, ‘I will send [copies of] this scroll to the places where thieves live and to the houses of those who use my name when they solemnly promise to tell the truth. [The copies of] this scroll will stay in their houses, until those houses and all their wood and stones are destroyed.’”

5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”

Then the angel who had been talking to me came closer to me and said, “Look up and see what is appearing!”

6 “What is it?” I asked. And he replied, “A measuring basket is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”

I asked him, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a big basket [for measuring grain]. But it represents the sins that everyone in this nation has committed.”

7 And behold, the cover of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.

Then [the angel] lifted the basket’s cover, [which was made] of lead. There was a woman sitting inside the basket!

8 “This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening.

The angel said, “She represents the wicked things [that people do].” Then the angel pushed her back into the basket and closed the very heavy lid [again].

9 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women approaching, with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

Then I looked up and saw two women in front of me. They [were flying toward us], with their wings spread out in the wind. Their wings were [large], like [SIM] storks’ wings. They lifted the big basket up into the sky.

10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.

I asked the angel who had been talking to me, “Where are they taking that basket?”

11 “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”

He replied, “[They are taking it] to Babylonia to build a temple for it. When the temple is finished, they will set the basket there on a pedestal [for people to worship it].”