God’s Word Translation
Zechariah 5:6
6“What is it?” I asked. “A basket is coming,” he said. Then he added, “This is what the people’s sins look like all over the earth.”
Zechariah 5:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)I asked, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)And I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the basket that is going out." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land."
- New King James Version (NKJV)So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.” He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth:
Context of Zechariah 5:6
4I will send out a curse, declares the Lord of Armies, and it will enter the houses of thieves and the houses of those who take oaths in my name. It will stay in their houses and destroy the timber and stone.” 5The angel who was speaking with me came forward. He said, “Look up, and see what’s coming.” “What is it?” I asked. “A basket is coming,” he said. Then he added, “This is what the people’s sins look like all over the earth.” 7A lead cover ⌞on the basket⌟ was raised, and a woman was sitting in the basket. 8The angel said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and forced the lead cover down on top of it.
Read all of Zechariah 5Zechariah 5:6 word by word
וָאֹמַ֖ר מַה־הִ֑יא וַיֹּ֗אמֶר זֹ֤את הָֽאֵיפָה֙ הַיּוֹצֵ֔את וַיֹּ֕אמֶר זֹ֥את עֵינָ֖ם בְּכָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Zechariah 5:6
- Ezekiel 44:10“ ‘Some Levites went far away from me when Israel wandered off to follow their idols. They must be punished for their sins.
- Amos 8:5You say to yourselves, “When will the New Moon Festival be over so that we can sell more grain? When will the day of rest—a holy day, be over so that we can sell more wheat? We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets, increase the cost, and cheat with dishonest scales.
Commentaries on Zechariah 5:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6This is an ephah that goeth forth - This, among the Jews, was the ordinary measure of grain. The woman in the ephah is supposed to represent Judea, which shall be visited for its sins; the talent of lead on the ephah, within which the woman was enclosed, the wrath of God, bending down this culprit nation, in the measure of its sins; for the angel said, "This is wickedness;" that is, the woman represents the mass of iniquity of this nation.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6This is the ephah that goeth forth - Theodoret: “We too are taught by this, that the Lord of all administers all things in weight and measure. So, foretelling to Abraham that his seed should be a sojourner and the cause thereof, He says, “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” Genesis 15:16, that is, they have not yet committed sins enough to merit entire destruction, wherefore I cannot yet endure to give them over to the slaughter, but will…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-11Verses 5-11 In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon the sinner as a weight of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6The measuring basket, known as an ephah in Hebrew, was a standard unit for measuring dry goods. An ephah was about half a bushel. Old Testament prophets condemned unfair ephahs. They associated the ephah basket with wrongdoing (see Ezekiel 45:10; Micah 6:10).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. This is their resemblance--literally, "eye" (compare Eze 1:4, 5, 16). Hengstenberg translates, "Their (the people's) eye" was all directed to evil. But English Version is better. "This is the appearance (that is, an image) of the Jews in all the land" (not as English Version, "in all the earth"), that is, of the wicked Jews. This--Here used of what was within the ephah, not the ephah itself.Read the comment
Topics related to Zechariah 5:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Zechariah 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries