Zechariah 5 KJV
The Flying Scroll
Zechariah Chapter 5: The Flying Scroll
The scroll's dimensions of twenty by ten cubits precisely match the measurements of Solomon's temple porch in 1 Kings 6:3, framing the covenant curse as a divine standard originating from the sanctuary itself rather than a generic legal document.
1hen 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.
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Did You Know?
The scroll's dimensions of twenty by ten cubits precisely match the measurements of Solomon's temple porch in 1 Kings 6:3, framing the covenant curse as a divine standard originating from the sanctuary itself rather than a generic legal document.
Stork wings on the two female figures carrying the ephah are deliberately chosen from unclean birds in Leviticus 11, creating an ironic reversal where ritually impure agents are tasked with removing Israel's corporate impurity to its Babylonian source.
The ephah container, a standard commercial dry measure, links the personified Wickedness directly to mercantile fraud, extending the scroll's earlier condemnation of thieves and perjurers into systemic economic corruption rather than isolated moral failings.
Transporting the sealed ephah to Shinar to 'build a house' echoes the Tower of Babel narrative in Genesis 11 while inverting the post-exilic return from Babylon, suggesting that idolatry's foundational impulse is being permanently exiled back to its origin instead of eradicated.
The lead talent pressed over the ephah's mouth functions as both a commercial weight and a ritual seal, paralleling ancient Near Eastern incantation bowls used to trap demons, yet here it confines Israel's iniquity under Yahweh's sovereign control rather than magical manipulation.