(KJV) Zechariah 51

<< Zechariah 4 Zechariah 6 >>

The Vision of the Flying Scroll

[1] Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll2. [2] And he said unto me, What3 seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying4 roll; the length5 thereof [is] twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. [3] Then said he unto me, This [is] the curse6 that goeth forth over the face7 of the whole earth: for every one8 that stealeth shall be cut off [as] on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth9 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 remain10 in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

The Vision of the Woman in a Basket

[5] Then the angel11 that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift12 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 ephah13 that goeth forth. He said moreover, This [is] their resemblance through all the earth. [7] And, behold, there was lifted up a talent14 of lead: and this15 [is] a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. [8] And he said, This16 [is] wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight17 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; for18 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 unto19 me, To build it an house in the land20 of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.

<< Zechariah 4 Zechariah 6 >>


  1. Zech 5:1, By the flying roll is shewn the curse of thieves and swearers; Zech 5:5, and by a woman pressed in an ephah the final judgment of wickedness. 

  2. Zech 5:2; Isa 8:1; Jer 36:1-6, Jer 36:20-24, Jer 36:27-32; Ezek 2:9-10; Rev 5:1-14; Rev 10:2, Rev 10:8-11 

  3. Zech 4:2; Jer 1:11-14; Amos 7:8 

  4. Zeph 1:14; 2Pet 2:3 

  5. Gen 6:11-13; Rev 18:5 

  6. Deut 11:28-29, Deut 27:15-26, Deut 28:15-68, Deut 29:19-28; Ps 109:17-20; Prov 3:33; Isa 24:6, Isa 43:28; Jer 26:6; Dan 9:11; Mal 3:9, Mal 4:6; Matt 25:41; Gal 3:10-13; Heb 6:6-8; Rev 21:8, Rev 22:15 

  7. Luke 21:35 

  8. etc. or, every one of this people that stealeth, holdeth himself guiltless, as it doth. stealeth. Exod 20:15; Prov 29:24, Prov 30:9; Jer 7:9; Hos 4:2; Mal 3:8-10; 1Cor 6:7-9; Eph 4:28; Jas 5:4 

  9. Zech 5:4, Zech 8:17; Lev 19:12; Isa 48:1; Jer 5:2, Jer 23:10; Ezek 17:13-16; Mal 3:5; Matt 5:33-37, Matt 23:16-22; 1Tim 1:9; Jas 5:12 

  10. Lev 14:34-45; Deut 7:26; Job 18:15, Job 20:26; Prov 3:33; Hab 2:9-11; Jas 5:2-3 

  11. Zech 1:9, Zech 1:14, Zech 1:19, Zech 2:3, Zech 4:5 

  12. Zech 5:1 

  13. "The meaning of this vision," says Archbishop Newcome, "seems to be, that the Babylonish captivity had happened on account of the wickedness of the Jews, and that a like dispersion would befall them if they relapsed into like crimes." The woman who sat in the ephah was an emblem of the Jewish nation; the casting the weight of lead on the mouth of the ephah seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they had filled up the measure of their iniquities by crucifying the Messiah; the "two women, with wings like a stork, and the wind in their wings," seem emblematical of the Roman armies and the rapidity of their conquests; and their lifting up the ephah and carrying it through the air, to build it a house in Shinar or Babylon, where it was fixed on its own basis, represents the taking of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews, and the long continuance of that calamity, as a just punishment of their unbelief. Ezek 44:10-11; Amos 8:5 

  14. or, weighty piece, Isa 13:1, Isa 15:1, Isa 22:11 

  15. Jer 3:1-2; Ezek 16:1-63, Ezek 23:1-49; Hosea 1:1-3:5; Rev 17:1-18 

  16. Gen 15:16; Matt 23:32; 1Thess 2:16 

  17. Zech 5:7; Ps 38:4; Prov 5:22; Lam 1:14; Amos 9:1-4 

  18. Deut 28:49; Dan 9:26-27; Hos 8:1; Matt 24:28 

  19. Deut 28:59; Jer 29:28; Hos 3:4; Luke 21:24 

  20. Gen 10:10, Gen 11:2, Gen 14:1; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2