Zechariah 5
New English Translation
Vision Six: The Flying Scroll
5 Then I turned to look, and there was a flying scroll! 2 Someone asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”[a] 3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse[b] traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals[c] will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”
Vision Seven: The Ephah
5 After this the angelic messenger[d] who had been speaking to me went out and said, “Look, see what is leaving.” 6 I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain[e] that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’[f] throughout all the earth.” 7 Then a round lead cover was raised up, revealing a woman sitting inside the basket. 8 He then said, “This woman represents wickedness,” and he pushed her down into the basket and placed the lead cover on top. 9 Then I looked again and saw two women[g] going forth with the wind in their wings (they had wings like those of a stork), and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky. 10 I asked the messenger who was speaking to me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He replied, “To build a temple[h] for her in the land of Babylonia.[i] When it is finished, she will be placed there in her own residence.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 5:2 tn Heb “20 cubits…10 cubits” (so NAB, NRSV). These dimensions (“30 feet long and 15 feet wide”) can hardly be referring to the scroll when unrolled since that would be all out of proportion to the normal ratio, in which the scroll would be 10 to 15 times as long as it was wide. More likely, the scroll is 15 feet thick when rolled, a hyperbole expressing the enormous amount and the profound significance of the information it contains.
- Zechariah 5:3 tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ʾalah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).
- Zechariah 5:3 sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.
- Zechariah 5:5 tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.
- Zechariah 5:6 tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.
- Zechariah 5:6 tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (ʿavonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (ʿenam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.
- Zechariah 5:9 sn Here two women appear as the agents of the Lord because the whole scene is feminine in nature. The Hebrew word for “wickedness” in v. 8 (רִשְׁעָה, rishʿah) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout.
- Zechariah 5:11 tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV, CEV).
- Zechariah 5:11 sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (Gen 10:10). Babylon throughout the Bible symbolizes the focus of anti-God sentiment and activity (Gen 11:4; 14:1; Isa 13-14; 47:1-3; Jer 50-51; Rev 14:8; 17:1, 5, 18; 18:21).
撒迦利亚书 5
Chinese New Version (Traditional)
飛行書卷的異象
5 我又舉目觀看，看見有一卷飛行的書卷。
2 他問我：“你看見甚麼？”我回答：“我看見一卷飛行的書卷，長十公尺，寬五公尺。”
3 他對我說：“這是向全地發出的咒詛：凡偷盜的必照著書卷這面所寫的被清除；凡起假誓的必照著那面所記的被清除。 4 萬軍之耶和華說：‘我要使這書卷出去，進入盜賊的家和指著我的名起假誓之人的家，這書卷必留在他的家中，要把他家裡的木料和石頭都毀滅（這是萬軍之耶和華說的）。’”
量器中婦人的異象
5 那與我說話的天使又出來對我說：“你要舉目觀看，看看這出來的是甚麼？”
6 我說：“這是甚麼？”他回答：“這出來的是個量器。”他又說：“這是他們在全地上的罪孽（“罪孽”有抄本作“樣子”）。”
7 看哪！量器的圓形鉛蓋被揭開，有一個婦人坐在量器裡面。
8 天使說：“這是罪惡。”然後他把那婦人擲回量器中，又把那鉛蓋丟在量器的口上。
9 我又舉目觀看，看見有兩個婦人出來。她們有翅膀，好像鸛鳥的翅膀；她們的翅膀之下有風。她們把那量器抬起，抬到天地之間。
10 我問那與我說話的天使：“她們要把量器帶到哪裡去呢？”
11 他回答我：“要在示拿地為那量器建造房子；房子預備好了，就在那裡把它安放在它自己的地方。”
Zechariah 5
King James Version
5 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4 I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into 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 that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
Zechariah 5
New King James Version
Vision of the Flying Scroll
5 Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying (A)scroll.
2 And 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.”
3 Then he said to me, “This is the (B)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 (C)thief
And the house of (D)the one who swears falsely by My name.
It shall remain in the midst of his house
And consume (E)it, with its timber and stones.”
Vision of the Woman in a Basket
5 Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.”
6 So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a [a]basket that is going forth.”
He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: 7 Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”; 8 then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead [b]cover over its mouth. 9 Then 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 (F)stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
10 So I said to the (G)angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?”
11 And he said to me, “To (H)build a house for it in (I)the land of [c]Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 5:6 Heb. ephah, a measuring container, and so elsewhere
- Zechariah 5:8 Lit. stone
- Zechariah 5:11 Babylon
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
