Zechariah 5

1 I looked again and saw a flying scroll.

Then again I looked up and saw a flying scroll.

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

He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide.”

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 he said to me, “This is the curse that goes over the whole land. Every thief will be banished according to the writing on one side and everyone who lies under oath shall be banished according to the writing on the other side.

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 have sent it out, says the Lord of hosts, and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in the midst of his house and will 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 the messenger who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Look up and see what is now coming.”

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.

I said. “What is it?” He said, “It is a measuring basket, full of the guilt of the land.”

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

A round leaden cover was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting in the middle of the basket.

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

He said, “This is Wickedness.” He thrust her down into the midst of the basket and he pushed the round leaden cover back on its mouth.

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 I looked up and saw two women, and the wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork and they lifted up the basket between them.

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

Then I said to the messenger who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

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.”

He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, they will rest the basket there.”