Zechariah 5

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

And I turn back, and lift up my eyes, and look, and behold, a flying scroll.

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 says to me, “What are you seeing?” And I say, “I am seeing a flying scroll, its length [is] twenty by the cubit, and its breadth [is] ten by the cubit.”

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.

And he says to me, “This [is] the execration that is going forth over the face of all the land, for everyone who is stealing, on the one side, according to it, has been declared innocent, and everyone who has sworn, on the other side, according to it, has been declared innocent.”

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 have brought it out,” a declaration of YHWH of Hosts, “and it has come into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who has sworn in My Name with a falsehood, and it has remained in the midst of his house, and has consumed it, both its wood 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!”

And the messenger who is speaking with me goes forth and says to me, “Now lift up your eyes, and [do you] see what this [is] that is coming 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 say, “What [is] it?” And he says, “This—the ephah that is coming forth.” And he says, “This [is] their aspect 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 disc of lead 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 says, “This [is] the wicked woman.” And he casts her into the midst of the ephah, and casts the weight of lead on its mouth.

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.

And I lift up my eyes, and see, and behold, two women are coming forth, and wind [is] in their wings; and they have wings like wings of the stork, and they lift up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.

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

And I say to the messenger who is speaking with me, “To where [are] they causing the ephah to go?”

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 says to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar.” And it has been prepared and has been placed there on its base.