Zechariah 5

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

I looked again and saw a flying scroll.

2 He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”

“What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It's thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”

3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land, for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.

He told me, “This is the curse that is going out to all the world. Anyone who steals will be purged from society, according to one side of the scroll. Anyone who swears lies under oath will be purged from society, according to the other side of the scroll.”

4 I will cause it to go out,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”

“I have sent the curse out and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who swears lies in my name, declares the Lord Almighty. The curse will remain in that house, and will destroy it, both the timbers and the stones.”

5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is that is appearing.”

Then the angel I had been talking to came over to me and said, “Look. What do you see moving away?”

6 I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the efah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land—

“What is it?” I asked. “What you see moving away is a barrel full of the sins of everyone in the country,” he replied.

7 and behold, a lead cover weighing one talent was lifted up—and there was a woman sitting in the middle of the efah basket.”

Then the lead lid was lifted from the barrel and there was a woman sitting inside.

8 He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the middle of the efah basket; and he threw the lead weight on its mouth.

“She represents wickedness,” he said, and pushed her back inside, forcing the lead lid shut.

9 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women; and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the efah basket between earth and the sky.

I looked once more and saw two women flying towards me. Their wings looked like those of a stork. They picked up the barrel and flew away, high into the sky.

10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the efah basket?”

“Where are they taking it?” I asked the angel I was talking to.

11 He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”

“They're taking it to the land of Babylon to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the barrel will be placed at its base.”