Zechariah5
New King James Version
1Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll.
2And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.”
3Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according to this side of the scroll; and, ‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according to that side of it.”
4“I will send out the curse,” says the Lord of hosts; “It shall enter the house of the thief And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones.”
5Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.”
6So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth:
7Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”;
8then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth.
9Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
10So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?”
11And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Zechariah 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The vision of a flying roll. (1–4). The vision of a woman and an ephah. (5–11).
vv1-4
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are rolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and gospel; they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, Ps 147:15. This flying roll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against sinners. Oh that we saw with an eye of faith the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams of God's favour, but big with thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings of a Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law, being himself made a curse for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and families; especially the doing hurt to others and false witness. Who knows the power of God's anger? God's curse cannot be kept out by bars or locks. While one part of the curse of God ruins the substance of the sinner, another part will rest on the soul, and sink it to everlasting punishment. All are transgressors of the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of God, except we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel.
vv5-11
In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon the sinner as a weight of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they filled the measure of their iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting his gospel. Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it, carried away to some far country. This intimates that the Jews should be hurried out of their own land, and forced to dwell in far countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah shall be firmly placed, and their sufferings shall continue far longer than in their late captivity. Blindness is happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief. Let sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; for the more they multiply crimes, the faster the measure fills.
Key Words
שׁוּב: to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often adverbial, again
נָשָׂא: to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
עַיִן: an eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy, a fountain (as the eye of the landscape)
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
הִנֵּה: lo!
עוּף: to fly; also (by implication of dimness) to faint (from the darkness of swooning)
מְגִלָּה: a roll
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
מָה: properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
אֹרֶךְ: length
Cross References
Zechariah 5The flying roll inscribes the written words of the law's curse against covenant breakers.
Supported by JFB
The leprosy curse utterly consumes the timber and stones of a house, mirroring the roll's judgment.
Supported by JFB
Ezekiel's vision of an open, written roll of lamentations, representing inescapable divine decree.
Supported by JFB
The curse going forth over the face of the land to prevent total destruction.
Supported by JFB
Filling up the measure of their fathers' sins before the final judgment falls.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The ephah was the standard measure used dishonestly by fraudulent traders to exploit others.
Supported by JFB
Shinar is the historical location of Babylon, the land where wickedness is built and established.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
The dimensions of the roll exactly match those of the temple porch where the law was read.
Supported by JFB
Connecting theft with taking the name of God in vain (perjury) to cover the crime.
Supported by JFB
God promises to be a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, thieves, and false swearers.
Supported by JFB
Judgment is delayed until the iniquity of the people is fully complete and measured.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The Jewish nation filling up the measure of their sins, resulting in wrath to the uttermost.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The historical deportation of temple vessels to the land of Shinar, symbolizing exile.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
A vision of a basket of summer fruit, representing the end and finality of judgment.
Supported by JFB
The symbolic woman sitting in the ephah as an emblem of false, apostate systems.
Supported by Matthew Henry