Xa-cha-ri 5

The flying scroll and the woman in the basket

¹Again I looked up, and I saw a flying scroll. ²He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “A flying scroll, about thirty feet long and about fifteen feet wide.”^{a 3}Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land. As one side of it says, every thief will be swept away; and as the other side says, everyone who swears falsely will be swept away.^{bc 4}I have sent it out, declares the LORD of Armies, and it will go into the thief’s house and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will stay inside that house and destroy it, timber and stones alike.” ⁵Then the angel who talked with me stepped forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is coming out.” ⁶I asked, “What is it?” He said, “This is an ephah basket coming out.” He added, “This is what they are like throughout the land.”^{d 7}Then the lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket. ⁸He said, “This is Wickedness.” Then he pushed her back down into the basket and pressed the lead cover down over its opening.^e

⁹Then I looked up, and there were two women coming out, with the wind in their wings. They had wings like a stork’s wings, and they lifted the basket up between earth and sky. ¹⁰I asked the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” ¹¹He answered, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set down there on its base.”^f