Zechariah 5

1 And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume flying.

I looked again and saw a flying scroll.

2 And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

“What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It's thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”

3 And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it.

He told me, “This is the curse that is going out to all the world. Anyone who steals will be purged from society, according to one side of the scroll. Anyone who swears lies under oath will be purged from society, according to the other side of the scroll.”

4 I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.

“I have sent the curse out and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who swears lies in my name, declares the Lord Almighty. The curse will remain in that house, and will destroy it, both the timbers and the stones.”

5 And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth.

Then the angel I had been talking to came over to me and said, “Look. What do you see moving away?”

6 And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth.

“What is it?” I asked. “What you see moving away is a barrel full of the sins of everyone in the country,” he replied.

7 And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.

Then the lead lid was lifted from the barrel and there was a woman sitting inside.

8 And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.

“She represents wickedness,” he said, and pushed her back inside, forcing the lead lid shut.

9 And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the heaven.

I looked once more and saw two women flying towards me. Their wings looked like those of a stork. They picked up the barrel and flew away, high into the sky.

10 And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry the vessel?

“Where are they taking it?” I asked the angel I was talking to.

11 And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own basis.

“They're taking it to the land of Babylon to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the barrel will be placed at its base.”