< Zechariah 5 >
1 I looked again and saw a flying scroll.
And I again lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold there was a flying roll[-book].
2 “What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It's thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”
And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll, its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits.
3 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.”
Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of all the earth; for every one that stealeth as it is on this side shall be in an equal degree entirely destroyed, as also every one that sweareth [falsely] as it is on that side shall be likewise entirely destroyed.
4 “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.”
I bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into 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 its timber and its stones.
5 Then the angel I had been talking to came over to me and said, “Look. What do you see moving away?”
Then went forth the angel that spoke with me, and said unto me, Do but lift up thy eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6 “What is it?” I asked. “What you see moving away is a barrel full of the sins of everyone in the country,” he replied.
And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance through all the earth.
7 Then the lead lid was lifted from the barrel and there was a woman sitting inside.
And, behold, there was lifted up a heavy [cover] of lead: and there was a certain woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.
8 “She represents wickedness,” he said, and pushed her back inside, forcing the lead lid shut.
And he said, This is the wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weighty lead cover upon the mouth thereof.
9 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.
Then did I lift up my eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, having the wind in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 “Where are they taking it?” I asked the angel I was talking to.
Then said I to the angel that spoke with me, Whither are these bearing away the ephah?
11 “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.”
And he said unto me, To build for it a house in the land of Shin'ar: and when this is erected, then will the other be set there upon its own base.