Zechariah 5

1 I looked again and saw a flying scroll.

And I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, a flying roll.

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 to me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof 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 to me: — This is the curse that goeth forth Over the Face of the whole land; For every one who stealeth shall be cut off from hence, according to it, And every one who sweareth falsely shall be cut off from hence, according to it.

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 will bring it forth, saith Jehovah 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 abide in his house, And shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

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

Then the angel who talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what this is which 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 which goeth forth. He said, moreover, This is their image through all the land.

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

And behold, a talent of lead was lifted up, and a woman was sitting upon 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 ephah, and he cast the weight of lead 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 lifted I up mine eyes and looked, and behold, there came forth two women, and wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven.

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

Then said I to the angel who talked with me, Whither do these bear 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 to me, To build it a house in the land of Shinar, that it may be fixed there, and set upon its base.