Zechariah 5, Flying Scroll, Flying Basket

Zechariah describes his sixth vision. It is a flying banner with messages on each side.

Zechariah 5:1-4, Flying banner with two messages
I looked again--and there before me was a flying scroll!

He asked me, "What do you see?" 

I answered, "I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide."

And he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished.

The LORD Almighty declares, `I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and destroy it, both its timbers and its stones.'"

The scroll is 20 cubits by 10 cubits, a rectangular banner, flying in the air, much like the modern advertising banners one might see pulled behind an airplane. One side of the scroll accuses the people of theft; the other side accuses the people of swearing falsely in the name of YHWH. These accusations correspond to violations of the eighth and third commandments. The people violating these commandments will be removed from the kingdom. (Presumably these sins are representative -- the accusation is more generally that the people are disobeying the Covenant, both in their relations to each other and in their relationship with God.)

Zechariah 5:5-8, Loaded ephah
Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is appearing."

I asked, "What is it?" 

He replied, "It is a measuring basket." And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land."

Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, "This is wickedness," and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down over its mouth.

Zechariah's seventh vision involves looking up to see an ephah. The ephah basket would be used to accurately measure out an ephah of grain and so the NIV translates ephah as "measuring basket." Here, however, the basket carries a woman identified as "wickedness". The woman is pushed into basket and contained there.

Zechariah 5:9-11, An ephah to Babylonia
Then I looked up--and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

"Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

He replied, "To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place."

The loaded basket, with the woman in it, is now carried away by two flying women. They lift the basket full of wickedness and carry it off. As in the vision of the flying scroll, evil is being banished from Israel. In this vision, evil is carried off to Babylonia and so Babylonia will be the residence of wickedness. (Throughout the Old and New Testament, Babylon symbolizes opposition to God and Israel. This symbolism appears, for example, in Revelation 14:8 in the New Testament.)

First published December 15, 2025; updated December 15, 2025