The Flying Scroll: Curse on Theft and Falsehood
Zechariah 5:1-4
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Zec.5.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ואשוב: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- ואשא: VERB,qal,impf,1,?,sg
- עיני: NOUN,f,pl,cons+1s
- ואראה: VERB,qal,imperfect,1,com,sg
- והנה: ADV
- מגלה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עפה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Zechariah 2:1 (structural): Same prophetic narrative formula—'I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold...' introducing a visionary figure (here a man with a measuring line), showing Zechariah's recurring visionary framework.
- Zechariah 5:9 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same vision cycle—again uses 'lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and behold' to introduce another symbolic, airborne element (two women with wings), continuing the motif of visible symbolic objects in flight.
- Ezekiel 2:9–10 (verbal): Ezekiel sees a written roll/scroll in a vision ('a roll of a book... written within and without'), paralleling Zechariah's 'flying roll' as a symbolic written object conveying divine message and judgment.
- Revelation 14:6 (thematic): John reports 'another angel flying in the midst of heaven' bearing a proclamation; thematically parallels Zechariah's airborne symbolic figure (the flying roll) as a heavenly-borne sign or proclamation delivered over the earth.
Alternative generated candidates
- Again I lifted up my eyes and I looked, and behold—a flying scroll.
- Again I lifted up my eyes and I saw, and behold—a flying scroll.
Zec.5.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- מה: PRON,int
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- ראה: VERB,qal,imperat,2,m,sg
- ואמר: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- ראה: VERB,qal,imperat,2,m,sg
- מגלה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עפה: VERB,qal,ptc,f,sg
- ארכה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עשרים: NUM,card,pl
- באמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ורחבה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs,3,fs
- עשר: NUM,card,m,sg,cons
- באמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Zech.2.1-2 (structural): Both Zechariah visions employ measuring imagery: 2:1–2 depicts a man with a measuring line; 5:2 gives explicit dimensions (twenty by ten cubits) for a vision-object.
- Ezek.2.9-10 (thematic): Ezekiel is given a scroll (filled with lamentations, mourning and woes) to assimilate and prophesy from; parallels Zech.5's scroll/megillah as a written divine communiqué bearing curse or judgment.
- Rev.10.8-11 (allusion): John is given a little scroll to eat — a portable written prophetic book that must be ingested and then proclaimed. This resembles Zech.'s flying scroll as a movable written message with prophetic/eschatological force.
- Rev.11.1 (structural): John is commanded to measure the temple with a reed, echoing the motif of prophetic measurement and precise dimensions found in Zech.5:2 (the specified cubit dimensions of the vision-object).
Alternative generated candidates
- He said to me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits."
- He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.”
Zec.5.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- זאת: DEM,f,sg
- האלה: DEM,pl
- היוצאת: VERB,qal,ptcp,f,sg,def
- על: PREP
- פני: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- כל: DET
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- כי: CONJ
- כל: DET
- הגנב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- מזה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כמוה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- נקה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- וכל: CONJ+PRON,indef
- הנשבע: VERB,niph,ptcp,m,sg,def
- מזה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כמוה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- נקה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Exodus 20:15-16 (verbal): Contains the direct commandments 'You shall not steal' and 'You shall not bear false witness,' the same offenses singled out in Zech 5:3 for judgment.
- Deuteronomy 19:15-19 (verbal): Prescribes the treatment of false witnesses—if found guilty they receive the penalty they intended—paralleling Zech 5:3's declaration that those who swear falsely will be cut off.
- Leviticus 6:1-7 (6:2-5 in Hebrew numbering) (thematic): Mandates restitution and guilt-offering for theft and deceit; thematically parallels Zech 5:3’s concern with thieves and false swearers and the idea of impurity requiring removal or cleansing.
- Deuteronomy 28:15, 45-46 (structural): Frames covenant curses that 'come upon you' and overtake the land for disobedience—echoing Zech 5:3’s formulation of a curse that goes out 'over the face of the whole land.'
Alternative generated candidates
- And he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land: for every thief it will sweep away, and every one who swears falsely will be swept away by it."
- He said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land: every thief shall be purged like it, and every one who swears falsely shall be purged like it.”
Zec.5.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הוצאתיה: VERB,hiph,perf,1,m,sg
- נאם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- צבאות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ובאה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- אל: NEG
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הגנב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ואל: CONJ+PREP
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הנשבע: VERB,nip,ptc,3,m,sg
- בשמי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,poss1s
- לשקר: VERB,qal,inf
- ולנה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- בתוך: PREP
- ביתו: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכלתו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+3ms
- ואת: CONJ
- עציו: NOUN,m,pl,abs+3ms
- ואת: CONJ
- אבניו: NOUN,f,pl,abs+3ms
Parallels
- Jeremiah 7:9-11 (verbal): Condemns theft, falsehood and profane use of God's name and asks whether the temple has become a 'den of robbers'—closely parallels Zechariah’s indictment of the 'house of the thief' and the false swearer.
- Matthew 21:12-13 (quotation): Jesus cleanses the temple and cites the temple’s being made a 'den of robbers' (alluding to Jeremiah/Isaiah), echoing Zechariah’s theme of divine judgment on houses where theft and false oaths occur.
- Leviticus 19:11-12 (verbal): Prohibits stealing and swearing falsely by God's name; provides the legal/ethical background to Zechariah’s denunciation of the 'house of the thief' and the one who swears falsely in God’s name.
- Exodus 20:7 (structural): The commandment not to take the LORD’s name in vain undergirds the specific charge against those who 'swear falsely by my name' in Zechariah and frames the religious offense described.
Alternative generated candidates
- "Take it away," declares the LORD of hosts; "let it go to the house of the thief and to the house of the one who swears falsely by my name, and let it remain in his house and consume it—both its timbers and its stones."
- “Take it away,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Let it come to the house of the thief and to the house of the one who swears falsely by my name; let it remain in his house and consume it—his timbers and his stones.”
Again I lifted up my eyes, and I saw—and behold, a flying scroll.
He said to me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits." And he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the face of all the earth: every thief shall be purged by it, and every one who swears falsely shall be purged by it."
Remove it, declares the Lord of hosts; let it go to the house of the thief and to the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It shall remain in his house and shall consume it—its timbers and its stones.