Zechariah 5

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

And I again lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold there was a flying roll[-book].

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 unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll, its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth 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 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 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 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 who had been talking to me came closer to me and said, “Look up and see what is appearing!”

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 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 an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance through all the earth.

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

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 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 the wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weighty lead cover upon the mouth thereof.

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

Then said I to the angel that spoke with me, Whither are these bearing away 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 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.