Zechariah 5

1 I looked up again, and I saw a scroll that was flying [through the air].

Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying roll.

2 The angel asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll that is [huge], (10 yards/9 meters) long and (5 yards/4.5 meters) wide.”

And he said to me, What do thou see? And I answered, I see a flying roll. The length of it is twenty cubits, and the breadth of it ten cubits.

3 Then he said to me, “On this scroll is written the [words that Yahweh is speaking to] curse the entire country. On [one side of] the scroll it is written that every thief will be banished. On [the other side] it is written that everyone who tells a lie when he is solemnly promising to tell the truth will also be banished from the country.

Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cut off on the one side according to it, and everyone who swears shall be cut off on the other side according to it.

4 The Commander of the armies of angels says, ‘I will send [copies of] this scroll to the places where thieves live and to the houses of those who use my name when they solemnly promise to tell the truth. [The copies of] this scroll will stay in their houses, until those houses and all their wood and stones are destroyed.’”

I will cause it to go forth, says Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

5 Then the angel who had been talking to me came closer to me and said, “Look up and see what is appearing!”

Then the agent who talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what this is that goes forth.

6 I asked him, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a big basket [for measuring grain]. But it represents the sins that everyone in this nation has committed.”

And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land

7 Then [the angel] lifted the basket’s cover, [which was made] of lead. There was a woman sitting inside the basket!

(and, behold, a talent of lead was lifted up), and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.

8 The angel said, “She represents the wicked things [that people do].” Then the angel pushed her back into the basket and closed the very heavy lid [again].

And he said, This is Wickedness. And he cast her down into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth of it.

9 Then I looked up and saw two women in front of me. They [were flying toward us], with their wings spread out in the wind. Their wings were [large], like [SIM] storks’ wings. They lifted the big basket up into the sky.

Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked. And, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven.

10 I asked the angel who had been talking to me, “Where are they taking that basket?”

Then I said to the agent who talked with me, Where do these carry the ephah?

11 He replied, “[They are taking it] to Babylonia to build a temple for it. When the temple is finished, they will set the basket there on a pedestal [for people to worship it].”

And he said to me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar. And when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.