Zechariah 5

The Voice

5 That night I had a sixth vision. I looked up and saw a large scroll flying.

Heavenly Messenger: ²What do you see before you?

A sixth vision reveals the righteous ness held in God’s word, the true measure by which all are judged.

Zechariah: I see a large scroll flying. It’s at least 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.

Heavenly Messenger: ³This scroll is God’s curse of judgment that blankets all the land. On one side, it is written that all who steal will be banished from the land. On the other side, it says that all who break their solemn vows will be banished. ⁴The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, says, “I will dispatch this curse of judgment into the home of every thief and every perjurer who invokes My name. The decree will remain through the night in that house until it destroys everything, even its wood and stone.”

⁵The heavenly messenger who had been talking with me went out. It was time for a seventh vision.

Heavenly Messenger: Look up. What do you see moving forward?

A seventh vision explains that the wickedness infecting the world will one day be contained by the agents of God.

Zechariah: ⁶What is it?

Heavenly Messenger: It is a six-gallon basket^[a] moving forward. Like the scroll, it, too, is a mark of judgment carrying the iniquity that they committed in the land.

⁷Suddenly, the basket’s lead cover was lifted, and I saw a woman inside. She seemed to want out.

Heavenly Messenger: ⁸This is Lady Wickedness.

The messenger pushed the woman back into the basket and replaced the basket’s stone (that is, its lead cover) over the mouth so she’d stay inside it. ⁹Then in this vision, I looked up and saw two women moving forward with wings resembling the wings of storks. With the power of the wind in their wings, they lifted the basket up to a place somewhere far away, between heaven and earth.

Zechariah: ¹⁰Where are they taking the basket?

Heavenly Messenger: ¹¹It is being delivered to the land of Shinar, which you know as Babylon. A temple is being built for it there; and once it is ready, they will put the basket on its own altar cart. Let the Babylonians worship what God has condemned.