Zechariah 5

1 I looked again 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.”

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.”

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.”

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.”