< Zechariah 5 >
1 Then I turned and lifted my eyes, and I saw, behold, a flying scroll!
And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume flying.
2 The angel said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”
And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land. For every thief will be cut off according to what it says on the one side, and everyone who swears a false oath will be cut off according to what it says on the other side.
And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it.
4 “I will send it out—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts—so it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one that swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and consume its timber and stones.”
I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to 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 the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.
5 Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, “Raise your eyes and see what is coming!”
And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth.
6 I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is a basket containing an ephah that is coming. This is their iniquity in the whole land.”
And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth.
7 Then a lead covering was lifted off the basket and there was a woman under it sitting in it!
And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.
8 The angel said, “This is Wickedness!” He threw her back inside the basket, and he threw the lead cover over its opening.
And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 I lifted my eyes and saw two women coming toward me, and wind was in their wings—for they had wings like a stork's wings. They lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the heaven.
10 So I said to the angel who was talking to me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry the vessel?
11 He said to me, “To build a temple in the land of Shinar for it, so that when the temple is ready, the basket will be set there on its prepared base.”
And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own basis.