Zechariah 5

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

Then again I looked up and saw 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.”

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

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

Then the messenger who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Look up and see what is now coming.”

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.”

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

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

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

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].

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

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

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].”

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