New International Version
Zechariah 5:6
6I asked, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”
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.
- 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:
- New Living Translation (NLT)“What is it?” I asked. He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land.”
Context of Zechariah 5:6
4The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’ ” 5Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.” I asked, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.” 7Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! 8He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on 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“ ‘The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin.
- Amos 8:5saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating 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
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