Zechariah 5:2-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”[a](A) 3 Then he said to me: “This is the curse which is to go forth over the whole land. According to it, every thief and every perjurer[b] will be expelled. 4 I will send it forth—oracle of the Lord of hosts—so that it will come to the house of the thief, and into the house of the one who swears falsely by my name.(B) It shall lodge within each house, consuming it, timber and stones.”
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- 5:2 Twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide: ca. thirty feet by fifteen feet. These dimensions may represent the ratio of height to width in the exposed portion of a scroll being opened for liturgical reading; at the same time it may symbolize the approach to God’s presence since the entryway to the Temple has the same measurements (1 Kgs 6:3). The scroll itself may represent God’s covenant with the people, insofar as it contains curses against those who break the law.
- 5:3 Thief…perjurer: a pair of miscreants representing all those who disobey God’s covenant (see note on v. 2) and who must therefore be punished according to covenant curses.
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