A verse by verse commentary on Zechariah 5 dealing with the flying scroll and the woman in a basket.

1. ZECHARIAH 5 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
The Flying Scroll
1 I looked again, and there before me was a flying
scroll.
BAR ES, "Hitherto all had been bright, full of the largeness of the gifts of God; of
God’s favor to His people ; the removal of their enemies ; the restoration and expansion
and security of God’s people and Church under His protection ; the acceptance of the
present typical priesthood and the promise of Him, through whom there should be
entire forgiveness : the abiding illumining of the Church by the Spirit of God . Yet there
is a reverse side to all this, God’s judgments on those who reject all His mercies.
Augustine, de Civ. Del. 17:3. Ribera: “Prophecies partly appertain to those in whose
times the sacred writers prophesied, partly to the mysteries of Christ. And therefore it is
the custom of the prophets, at one time to chastise vices and set forth punishments, at
another to predict the mysteries of Christ and the Church.”
And I turned and - Or, “Again I lifted up my eyes” Gen_26:18; 2Ki_1:11, 2Ki_1:13;
Jer_18:14, having again sunk down in meditation on what he had seen, “and behold a
roll flying;” as, to Ezekiel was shown “a hand with a roll of a book therein, and he spread
it before me.” Ezekiel’s roll also was “written within and without, and there was written,
therein lamentation and mourning and woe” Eze_2:9-10. It was a wide unfolded roll, as
is involved in its flying; but its “flight signified the very swift coming of punishment; its
flying from heaven that the sentence came from the judgment-seat above” (Ribera).
CLARKE, "Behold a flying roll - This was twenty cubits long, and ten cubits
broad; the prophet saw it expanded, and flying. Itself was the catalogue of the crimes of
the people, and the punishment threatened by the Lord. Some think the crimes were
those of the Jews; others, those of the Chaldeans. The roll is mentioned in allusion to
those large rolls on which the Jews write the Pentateuch. One now lying before me is one
hundred and fifty-three feet long, by twenty-one inches wide, written on fine brown
Basle goat-skin; some time since brought from Jerusalem, supposed to be four hundred
years old.
GILL, "Then I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked,.... The prophet turned
himself from looking upon the candlestick and olive branches, having had a full and
clear understanding of them, and looked another way, and saw another vision:

2. and behold a flying roll, a volume or book flying in the air; it being usual for books,
which were written on parchment, to be rolled up in the form of a cylinder; whence they
were called rolls or volumes.
HE RY, "We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did
Zec_4:1. Being awakened then, he kept wakeful after; nay, now he needs not be so much
as called to look about him, for of his own accord he turns and lifts up his eyes. This
good men sometimes get by their infirmities, they make them the more careful and
circumspect afterwards. Now observe,
I. What it was that the prophet saw; he looked up into the air, and behold a flying roll.
A vast large scroll of parchment which had been rolled up, and is therefore called a roll,
was now unrolled and expanded; this roll was flying upon the wings of the wind, carried
swiftly through the air in open view, as an eagle that shoots down upon her prey; it was a
roll, like Ezekiel's that was written within and without with lamentations, and
mourning, and woe, Eze_2:9, Eze_2:10. As the command of the law is in writing, for
certainty and perpetuity, so is the curse of the law; it writes bitter things against the
sinner. “What I have written I have written and what is written remains.” The angel, to
engage the prophet's attention, and to raise in him a desire to have it explained, asks him
what he sees? And he gives him this account of it: I see a flying roll, and as near as he
can guess by his eye it is twenty cubits long (that is, ten yards) and ten cubits broad, that
is, five yards. The scriptures of the Old Testament and the New are rolls, in which God
has written to us the great things of his law and gospel. Christ is the Master of the rolls.
They are large rolls, have much in them. They are flying rolls; the angel that had the
everlasting gospel to preach flew in the midst of heaven, Rev_14:6. God's word runs
very swiftly, Psa_147:15. Those that would be let into the meaning of these rolls must
first tell what they see, must go as far as they can themselves. “What is written in the
law? how readest thou? Tell me that, and then thou shalt be made to understand what
thou readest.”
JAMISO , "Zec_5:1-4. Sixth Vision. The flying roll. The fraudulent and perjuring
transgressors of the Law shall be extirpated from Judea.
flying roll — of papyrus, or dressed skins, used for writing on when paper was not
known. It was inscribed with the words of the curse (Deu_27:15-26; Deu_28:15-68).
Being written implied that its contents were beyond all escape or repeal (Eze_2:9). Its
“flying” shows that its curses were ready swiftly to visit the transgressors. It was
unrolled, or else its dimensions could not have been seen (Zec_5:2). Being open to all,
none could say in excuse he knew not the law and the curses of disobedience. As the
previous visions intimated God’s favor in restoring the Jewish state, so this vision
announces judgment, intimating that God, notwithstanding His favor, did not approve
of their sins. Being written on both sides, “on this and on that side” (Zec_5:3) [Vatablus]
connects it with the two tables of the law (Exo_32:15), and implies its
comprehensiveness. One side denounced “him that sweareth falsely (Zec_5:4) by God’s
name,” according to the third commandment of the first table, duty to God; the other
side denounced theft, according to the eighth commandment, which is in the second
table, duty to one’s neighbor.
K&D 1-4, "Zec_5:1. “And I lifted up my eyes again, and saw, and behold a flying roll.

3. Zec_5:2. And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying roll; its length
twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits. Zec_5:3. And he said to me, This is the curse
that goeth forth over the whole land: for every one that stealeth will be cleansed away
from this side, according to it; and every one that sweareth will be cleansed away from
that side, according to it. Zec_5:4. I have caused it to go forth, is the saying of Jehovah
of hosts, and it will come into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that
sweareth by my name for deceit: and it will pass the night in the midst of his house,
and consume both its beams and its stones.” The person calling the prophet's attention
to the vision, and interpreting it, is the angelus interpres. This is not specially
mentioned here, as being obvious from what goes before. The roll (book-scroll, me
gillâh =
me
gillath sēpher, Eze_2:9) is seen flying over the earth unrolled, so that its length and
breadth can be seen. The statement as to its size is not to be regarded as “an
approximative estimate,” so that the roll would be simply described as of considerable
size (Koehler), but is unquestionably significant. It corresponds both to the size of the
porch of Solomon's temple (1Ki_6:3), and also to the dimensions of the holy place in the
tabernacle, which was twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. Hengstenberg, Hofmann,
and Umbreit, following the example of Kimchi, assume that the reference is to the porch
of the temple, and suppose that the roll has the same dimensions as this porch, to
indicate that the judgment is “a consequence of the theocracy” or was to issue from the
sanctuary of Israel, where the people assembled before the Lord. But the porch of the
temple was neither a symbol of the theocracy, nor the place where the people assembled
before the Lord, but a mere architectural ornament, which had no significance whatever
in relation to the worship. The people assembled before the Lord in the court, to have
reconciliation made for them with God by sacrifice; or they entered the holy place in the
person of their sanctified mediators, the priests, as cleansed from sin, there to appear
before God and engage in His spotless worship. The dimensions of the roll are taken
from the holy place of the tabernacle, just as in the previous vision the candlestick was
the mosaic candlestick of the tabernacle. Through the similarity of the dimensions of the
roll to those of the holy place in the tabernacle, there is no intention to indicate that the
curse proceeds from the holy place of the tabernacle or of the temple; for the roll would
have issued from the sanctuary, if it had been intended to indicate this. Moreover, the
curse or judgment does indeed begin at the house of God, but it does not issue or come
from the house of God. Kliefoth has pointed to the true meaning in the following
explanation which he gives: “The fact that the writing, which brings the curse upon all
the sinners of the earth, has the same dimensions as the tabernacle, signifies that the
measure will be meted out according to the measure of the holy place;” and again, “the
measure by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out, will be the measure of the
holy place.” With this measure would all sinners be measured, that they might be cut off
from the congregation of the Lord, which appeared before God in the holy place.
The flight of the roll symbolized the going forth of the curse over the whole land.
‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ፎ ָ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ is rendered by Hofmann, Neumann, and Kliefoth “the whole earth,” because “it
evidently signifies the whole earth in v. Zec_4:10, Zec_4:14, and Zec_6:5” (Kliefoth). But
these passages, in which the Lord of the whole earth is spoken of, do not prove anything
in relation to our vision, in which ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ፎ ָ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ is unmistakeably limited to the land of Canaan
(Judah) by the antithesis in Zec_5:11, “the land of Shinar.” If the sinners who are
smitten by the curse proceeding over ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ፎ ָ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ are to be carried into the land of Sinar, the
former must be a definite land, and not the earth as the sum of all lands. It cannot be
argued in opposition to this, that the sin of the land in which the true house of God and

4. the true priesthood were, was wiped away by expiation, whereas the sin of the whole
world would be brought into the land of judgment, when its measure was concluded by
God; for this antithesis is foreign not only to this vision, but to the Scriptures
universally. The Scriptures know nothing of any distribution or punishment of sins
according to different lands, but simply according to the character of the sinners, viz.,
whether they are penitent or hardened. At the same time, the fact that ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ፎ ָ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ denotes
the whole of the land of Israel, by no means proves that our vision either treats of the
“carrying away of Israel into exile,” which had already occurred (Ros.), or “sets before
them a fresh carrying away into exile, and one still in the future” (Hengstenberg), or that
on the coming of the millennial kingdom the sin and the sinners will be exterminated
from the whole of the holy land, and the sin thrown back upon the rest of the earth,
which is still under the power of the world (Hofmann). The vision certainly refers to the
remote future of the kingdom of God; and therefore “the whole land” cannot be
restricted to the extent and boundaries of Judaea or Palestine, but reaches as far as the
spiritual Israel or church of Christ is spread over the earth; but there is no allusion in
our vision to the millennial kingdom, and its establishment within the limits of the
earthly Canaan. The curse falls upon all thieves and false swearers. ‫ע‬ ָ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ ַ‫ה‬ in Zec_5:3 is
defined more precisely in Zec_5:4, as swearing in the name of Jehovah for deceit, and
therefore refers to perjury in the broadest sense of the word, or to all abuse of the name
of God for false, deceitful swearing. Thieves are mentioned for the sake of
individualizing, as sinners against the second table of the decalogue; false swearers, as
sinners against the first table. The repetition of ָ‫מוֹה‬ ָⅴ ‫ה‬ֶ ִ‫מ‬ points to this; for mizzeh,
repeated in correlative clauses, signifies hinc et illinc, hence and thence, i.e., on one side
and the other (Exo_17:12; Num_22:24; Eze_47:7), and can only refer here to the fact
that the roll was written upon on both sides, so that it is to be taken in close connection
with ָ‫מוֹה‬ ָⅴ: “on this side ... and on that, according to it” (the roll), i.e., according to the
curse written upon this side and that side of the roll. We have therefore to picture the
roll to ourselves as having the curse against the thieves written upon the one side, and
that against the perjurers upon the other. The supposition that mizzeh refers to ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ፎ ָ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ is
precluded most decidedly, by the fact that mizzeh does not mean “thence,” i.e., from the
whole land, but when used adverbially of any place, invariably signifies “hence,” and
refers to the place where the speaker himself is standing. Moreover, the double use of
mizzeh is at variance with any allusion to hâ'ârets, as well as the fact that if it belonged to
the verb, it would stand after ָ‫מוֹה‬ ָⅴ, whether before or after the verb. Niqqâh, the niphal,
signifies here to be cleaned out, like καθαρίζεσωαι in Mar_7:19 (cf. 1Ki_14:10; Deu_
17:12). This is explained in Zec_5:4 thus: Jehovah causes the curse to go forth and enter
into the house of the thief and perjurer, so that it will pass the night there, i.e., stay there
(lâneh third pers. perf. of lūn, from lânâh, to be blunted, like zûreh in Isa_59:5, and other
verbal formations); it will not remain idle, however, but work therein, destroying both
the house and sinners therein, so that beams and stones will be consumed (cf. 1Ki_
18:38). The suffix in ‫וּ‬ ַ ִⅴ (for ‫הוּ‬ ְ‫ת‬ ַ ִⅴ, cf. Ges. §75, Anm. 19) refers to the house, of course
including the inhabitants. The following nouns introduced with ‫ת‬ ֶ‫א‬ְ‫ו‬ are in explanatory
apposition: both its beams and its stones. The roll therefore symbolizes the curse which
will fall upon sinners throughout the whole land, consuming them with their houses,
and thus sweeping them out of the nation of God.

5. CALVI , "The angel shows in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had
suffered, proceeded from the righteous judgment Of God; and then he adds a
consolation — that the Lord would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils,
when he had removed afar off their iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither
heaven nor earth in their explanation of this prophecy, for they have not regarded
the design of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by the volume are to be understood
false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of doctrine had been vitiated; but
this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt but that God intended to
show to Zechariah, that the Jews were justly punished, because the whole land was
full of thefts and perjuries. As then religion had been despised, as well as equity and
justice, he shows that it was no wonder that a curse had prevailed through the whole
land, the Jews leaving by their impiety and other sins extremely provoked the wrath
of God. This is the import of the first part. And, then, as this vision was terrible,
there is added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the
mouth of the measure closed, and afterwards carried to the land of Shinar, that is,
into Chaldea, that it might not remain in Judea. Thus in the former part the
Prophet’s design was to humble the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that
they might own God to have been justly angry; and then he gives them reason to
entertain hope, and fully to expect an end to their evils, for the Lord would remove
to a distance and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and
free from every wickedness, both from thefts and acts of injustice, by which it had
been previously polluted. But every sentence must be in order explained, that the
meaning of the Prophet may be more clearly seen.
He says, that he had returned; (54) and by this word this vision is separated front
the preceding visions, and those also of which we have hitherto spoken, were not at
the same time exhibited to the Prophet, but he saw them at different times. We may
hence learn that some time intervened before the Lord presented to him the vision
narrated in this chapter. He adds, that he raised up his eyes and looked; and this is
said that we may know that what he narrates was shown to him by the prophetic
Spirit. Zechariah very often raised up his eyes though God did not immediately
appear to him; but it behaved God’s servants, whenever they girded themselves for
the purpose of teaching, to withdraw themselves as it were from the society of men,
and to rise up above the world. The raising up of the eyes then, mentioned by
Zechariah, signified something special, as though he had said, that he was prepared,
for the Lord had inwardly roused him. The Prophets also, no doubt, were in this
manner by degrees prepared, when the Lord made himself known to them. There
was then the raising up of the eyes as a preparation to receive the celestial oracle.
COFFMA , "Two more of the eight visions are in this chapter, that of the flying
roll, and that of the lead-covered ephah. Radically different views about the
meaning of these visions have been advocated; and it must be confessed that they
are somewhat difficult of interpretation. Some think that the Law and the Gospel
are meant, the Law by the flying roll, and the Gospel by the symbolical removal of

6. "sin" to Babylon, the contrast being, that whereas under the Law, the violators
were adjudged guilty and summary judgment executed, on the other hand, under
the Gospel, the very principle of sin is taken far away. Although ingenious enough,
this interpretation is not convincing. It is mentioned here because it seems to be the
best of interpretations based upon the supposition that these are "a pair of visions."
Perhaps it is better to take them one at a time.
Regarding the "flying roll," this certainly must be seen as a symbol of the Law of
Moses, or as a figure of God's law for all mankind. The meaning of the stress laid on
"cutting off" offenders is much more difficult to ascertain. Without even attempting
any dogmatic determination of what these two visions mean, we shall explore the
best comments by which men have attempted to enlighten us regarding them.
Zechariah 5:1-2
"Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying roll. And he said
unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is
twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits."
Taking the cubit as a measurement approximately of eighteen inches, the
dimensions of the roll were 30 feet 10:15 feet. Scholars find these to be equivalent to
the dimensions of Solomon's porch, or to the Holy of Holies in the ancient
tabernacle; but, when it comes to making any kind of a worthwhile deduction based
upon such facts, the commentators who cite them, "have not been able to furnish an
interpretation that is sufficiently obvious to commend itself to anyone except the
inventor!"[1]
The flying roll appears to be identified with the Law of Moses, because, "Being
written on both sides (Zechariah 5:3), they connect with the two tables of the Law
(Exodus 32:15)."[2] This impression seems to be confirmed by the fact that the two
specific violations mentioned, swearing and stealing, are the third and eighth
commandments respectively; and, "These represent the two tables of the Law,
dealing with duty to one's neighbor and duty to God."[3] This is logical, for the
third and seventh commandments are the middle ones in the two tables respectively.
Certainly, more sins than the two mentioned must be included.
"Let no one think this threat was only against thieves and swearers for God gave
sentence against all iniquity. All the law and the prophets hang on this word, Thou
shalt love God ... and thy neighbor as thyself."[4]
The fact of the roll being open and visible, as indicated by its dimensions being
stated, coupled with the fact of its being written on both sides, shows that no one
could plead ignorance of the law of God. It was open for all to see.
The fact of the roll being seen as flying would indicate that whatever blessing or
curse may be mentioned in connection with it would be swiftly and summarily
executed. Feinberg thought that, "The fact that it was flying indicated that its
disclosures were soon to be visited on the wicked."[5]

7. TRAPP, "Verse 1
Zechariah 5:1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a
flying roll.
Ver. 1. Then I turned me, and lifted up mine eyes] i.e. I prepared me to the receiving
of a new vision; nothing so comfortable as the former, but no less necessary; that the
people, by sense of sin and fear of wrath, might be taken off their wicked practices,
redeem their own sorrows, and be accounted worthy to escape all those things that
should (otherwise) come to pass, as Zechariah 5:11, and to stand before the Son of
man at that dreadful day, Luke 21:36. This seemeth to be the mind of the Holy
Ghost, in these two visions here recorded; which while some interpreters attend not,
in toto vaticinio neque coelum, neque terrain attingunt, saith Calvin, they are
utterly out.
And behold a flying roll] Or, volume, as Psalms 40:7, or scroll of paper, or
parchment, usually rolled up, like the web upon the pin, uti convolvuntur nostrae
Mappae Geographicae, as our maps are rolled up, saith a Lapide; and as in the
public library at Oxford the book or roll of Esther (a Hebrew manuscript) is at this
day to be seen; but here flying, Volans velocissimum ultionis incursum significat
(Chrysost.). ot only becanse spread wide open, as Rabshakeh’s letter, 2 Kings
19:14, and as that book of the prophet Isaiah, Luke 4:17, but also as fleeting along
swiftly, like a bird ready to seize on her prey. emo scelus gerit in pectore, qui non
idem emesin in tergo. o man bears evil in his heart who does not show the same
revenge on the outside. The heathens named emesis (their goddess of revenge, to
take punishment of offenders) Aδραστεια, because no man can possibly escape her,
οτι ουκ αν τις αυτην αποδρασαιτο. They tell us also that their Jupiter writeth down
all the sins of all men in a book, or scroll, made of a goat’s pelt, which they call
διφθερα; the very word whereby Aquila and Theodotion (two Greek translaters) do
render the Hebrew of this text. [Daniel 7:18 Revelation 20:12] Symmachus turns it
Kεφαλις, a chapter, or abstract of a larger book, full of sins and woes; and yet it is
of an unheard of size, Zechariah 5:2, and of very sad contents, like that book of
Ezekiel, Ezekiel 2:9-10, lamentation, and mourning, and woe; or the first leaf of
Bishop Babington’s book (which he turned over every morning), all black; to
remind him of hell and God’s judgments due unto him for his sins.
CO STABLE, "The next thing Zechariah saw in his visions was an unrolled scroll
flying through the air. This was a scroll that contained writing, the equivalent of a
modern book.
"A scroll (or roll), in Scripture symbolism, denotes the written word, whether of
God or man ( Ezra 6:2; Jeremiah 36:2; Jeremiah 36:4; Jeremiah 36:6, etc.; Ezekiel
3:1-3, etc). Zechariah"s sixth vision is of the rebuke of sin by the Word of God. The
two sins mentioned [in Zechariah 5:3] really transgress both tables of the law. To
steal is to set aside our neighbor"s right; to swear is to set aside God"s claim to
reverence." [ ote: The ew Scofield ..., p967.]

8. Verses 1-4
F. The flying scroll5:1-4
The priests and the kings in Israel were responsible for justice in the nation (cf.
Deuteronomy 17:9; 2 Samuel 15:2-3), though neither group could prevent
wickedness from proliferating. The sixth and seventh visions deal with the removal
of wickedness. This sixth one deals with the elimination of lawbreakers, and the next
one with the removal of wickedness from the land. What God promised in the
preceding two visions required the purging predicted in these two visions.
"At this point the series of visions takes a sharp turn from that which heretofore has
been comforting, to a stern warning that the Lord (Yahweh) is a holy God and
cannot brook evil." [ ote: Unger, p83.]
". . . before the blessing of the first five visions will be actualized, there will
intervene in the life of the nation a period of moral declension and apostasy. God
must and will purge out all iniquity, though He has promised untold glory for the
godly in Israel." [ ote: Feinberg, God Remembers, p82.]
BE SO , "Zechariah 5:1. Then I turned and lifted up — Or, again I lifted up,
mine eyes — For the verb ‫,שׁוב‬ to return, is often used adverbially; and behold a
flying roll — That is, a roll of a book, as the expression is Jeremiah 36:2 ; Ezekiel
2:9; the ancient way of writing being upon long scrolls of parchment, which used to
be rolled up. This roll contained an account of the sins and punishments of the
people, and is described as flying, both because it was open, and to denote the
swiftness of God’s judgments. Hitherto, from the beginning of this prophecy, “all
has been consoling, and meant to cheer the hearts of the Jewish people, by holding
forth to them prospects of approaching prosperity. But, lest they should grow
presumptuous and careless of their conduct, it was thought proper to warn them of
the conditions on which their happiness would depend; and to let them see, that
however God was at present disposed to show them favour, his judgments would
assuredly fall upon them with still greater weight than before, if they should again
provoke him by repeated acts of wickedness.” Accordingly, this warning and
information are given them by the visions of this chapter, which are of a very
different kind from the preceding ones. — Blayney.
COKE, "Introduction
CHAP. V.
By the flying roll, is shewed the curse of thieves and false swearers: The prophet
sees a woman sitting in an ephah, which two other women carry into the land of
Shinar.
Before Christ 519.
THE visions represented in this chapter are of a very different kind from the
preceding ones. Hitherto all has been consoling, and meant to cheer the hearts of the

9. Jewish people, by holding forth to them prospects of approaching prosperity. But
lest they should grow presumptuous and careless of their conduct, it was thought
proper to warn them of the conditions on which their happiness would depend; and
to let them see, that however God was at present disposed to shew them favour, his
judgments would assuredly fall upon them with still greater weight than before, if
they should again provoke him by repeated wickedness. Accordingly in the first of
these visions, which was the sixth in succession, the prophet is shewn an immense
roll of a book, like that which Ezekiel describes, chap. Zechariah 2:9-10 filled with
curses, and in the act of flying, to denote the celerity and speed, as well as the
certainty, with which the thief and false swearer, who might other wise flatter
themselves with hopes of impunity, would be visited to their utter destruction. The
next vision presents the appearance of an ephah, or measure, in which fate a woman
representing a nation, whose wickedness was arrived at such a height as required an
immediate check. Accordingly a heavy cover is cast upon her, and she is carried into
exile in a distant land, there to abide the full time allotted for her punishment.
Verse 1
Zechariah 5:1. A flying roll— See Ezekiel 2:9. Revelation 10:10. This flying roll
inclosed an account of the sins and punishments of the people, and is described as
flying, to denote the swiftness of God's judgments.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE SIXTH VISIO : THE WI GED
VOLUME
Zechariah 5:1-4
The religious and political obstacles being now removed from the future of Israel,
Zechariah in the next two Visions beholds the land purged of its crime and
wickedness. These Visions are very simple, if somewhat after the ponderous fashion
of Ezekiel.
The first of them is the Vision of the removal of the curse brought upon the land by
its civic criminals, especially thieves and perjurers-the two forms which crime takes
in a poor and rude community like the colony of the returned exiles. The prophet
tells us he beheld a roll flying, he uses the ordinary Hebrew name for the rolls of
skin or parchment upon which writing was set down. But the proportions of its
colossal size-twenty cubits by ten-prove that it was not a cylindrical but an oblong
shape which he saw. It consisted, therefore, of sheets laid on each other like our
books, and as our word "volume," which originally meant, like his own term, a roll,
means now an oblong article, we may use this in our translation. The volume is the
record of the crime of the land, and Zechariah sees it flying from the land. But it is
also the curse upon this crime, and so again he beholds it entering every thief’s and
perjurer’s house and destroying it. Smend gives a possible explanation of this: "It
appears that in ancient times curses were written on pieces of paper and sent down
the wind into the houses" of those against whom they were directed. But the figure
seems rather to be of birds of prey.

10. "And I turned and lifted my eyes and looked, and lo! a volume flying. And he said
unto me, What dost thou see? And I said, I see a volume flying, its length twenty
cubits and its breadth ten. And he said unto me, This is the curse that is going out
upon the face of all the land. For every thief is hereby purged away from hence, and
every perjurer is hereby purged away from hence, I have sent it forth-oracle of
Jehovah of Hosts-and it shall enter the thief’s house, and the house of him that hath
sworn falsely by My name, and it shall roost: in the midst of his house and consume
it, with its beams and its stones."
Verses 1-11
THE SEVE TH VISIO : THE WOMA I THE BARREL
Zechariah 5:5-11
It is not enough that the curse fly from the land after destroying every criminal. The
living principle of sin, the power of temptation, must be covered up and removed.
This is the subject of the Seventh Vision.
The prophet sees an ephah, the largest vessel in use among the Jews, of more than
seven gallons capacity, and round like a barrel. Presently the leaden top is lifted,
and the prophet sees a woman inside. This is Wickedness, feminine because she
figures the power of temptation. She is thrust back into the barrel, the leaden lid is
pushed down, and the Whole carried off by two other female figures, winged like
the strong, far-flying stork, into the land of Shin’ar, "which at that time had the
general significance of the counterpart of the Holy Land," and was the proper home
of all that was evil.
"And the angel of Jehovah who spake with me came forward and said to me, Lift
now thine eyes and see what this is that comes forth. And I said, What is it? And he
said, This is a bushel coming forth. And he said, This is their transgression in all the
land. And behold! the round leaden top was lifted up, and lo! a woman sitting inside
the bushel. And he said, This is the Wickedness, and he thrust her back into the
bushel, and thrust the leaden disc upon the mouth of it. And I lifted mine eyes and
looked, and lo! two women came forth with the wind in their wings, for they had
wings like storks’ wings, and they bore the bushel betwixt earth and heaven. And I
said to the angel that talked with me, Whither do they carry the bushel? And he said
to me, To build it a house in the land of Shin’ar, that it may be fixed and brought to
rest there on a place of its own."
We must not allow this curious imagery to hide from us its very spiritual teaching. If
Zechariah is weighted in these Visions by the ponderous fashion of Ezekiel, he has
also that prophet’s truly moral spirit. He is not contented with the ritual atonement
for sin, nor with the legal punishment of crime. The living power of sin must be
banished from Israel; and this cannot be done by any efforts of men themselves, but
by God’s action only, which is thorough and effectual. If the figures by which this is
illustrated appear to us grotesque and heavy, let us remember how they would suit
the imagination of the prophet’s own day. Let us lay to heart their eternally valid

11. doctrine, that sin is not a formal curse, nor only expressed in certain social crimes,
nor exhausted by the punishment of these, but, as a power of attraction and
temptation to all men, it must be banished from the heart, and can be banished only
by God.
HOLE, "Verses 1-11
THE OTHER SIDE of the picture meets us as we read chapter 5. In a sixth vision
the prophet saw a flying 'roll'; symbolically representing the law, extending its
authority over all the earth, and bringing with it a curse. The two sins specified —
stealing and swearing — both exceedingly common, represent sin against man and
against God. The fact that God acts in grace does not mean that there is any
condoning of sin, on which the curse lies. And as Galatians 3:10 tells us, 'As many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse'. A proper sense of this only
enhances our wonder, and appreciation of the grace of God.
The second part of this vision reveals what had to take place in view of this curse.
An ephah was the common measure of trade and commerce, and a woman is several
times used in Scripture as a symbol of a system; and systemized idolatry, linked
with profitable business had lain at the root of the evils that had led to the captivity
out of which the remnant had come; and the land of Shinar, where Babylon was
situated, had been the original home and hotbed of all idolatry. It was this that had
brought the curse upon the forefathers of the people. The whole system of this
idolatrous evil had to be deported to its own base.
ow this is what in figure seems to be depicted here. It was not so much a personal
matter, as presented in the cleansing of Joshua in chapter 3, but a national cleansing
from the sin of idolatry. This did come to pass historically, as we know, and from
about that time the Jews have not turned aside to the idols of the nations. If
Matthew 12:43-45, be read, we see how our Lord made reference to this act, and yet
predicted how ultimately they will be dominated by this sin in an intensified form.
But for the time being they were delivered.
PETT, "Verses 1-4
The Sixth Vision. The Flying Scroll - God’s Moral Demands Go Forth to Bring
Judgment (Zechariah 5:1-4).
Together with the establishment of the High Priesthood and the building of the
Temple, it is necessary for sin to be rooted out of the land. The purifying of the
people must be made fact. And this occurs now as the curse which results from
disobedience to the Law goes out among the people (compare Deuteronomy 30:7).
Zechariah 5:1-2
‘Then again I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to
me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll twenty cubits long
and ten cubits wide.” ’
A scroll of ten cubits wide is a phenomenon (a cubit is from elbow to finger tip). Its

12. size indicates that its source is God, and that it is divinely effective. The fact that it is
flying indicates that what is written in it is being enacted or is about to be enacted.
Thus here we have a scroll from God going among the people.
Zechariah 5:3-4
‘Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole
land. For every one who steals will be purged out according to it on the one side, and
everyone who swears (falsely) will be purged out according to it on the other side. ‘I
will cause it to go forth’, the word of YHWH of Hosts, ‘and it will enter into the
house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely in my name, and it
will remain in the midst of his house and will consume it with its timber and
stones’.”
‘The curse’. The idea behind the word here is a curse resulting from obligation. It is
used in Deuteronomy 30:7 where it is linked with the curses put on all those who do
not obey God’s law. Its connection here with stealing and swearing falsely, two of
the ten commandments, suggests that the idea is that God’s commands go forth as a
curse on those who do not obey them. Indeed the idea of a curse on one or other of
these types of dishonesty are found in Judges 17:2; 1 Kings 8:31-32; Job 31:29-30
compare Psalms 24:4-5.
It is possible that theft and dishonesty before the courts of justice were two of the
major problems that had to be dealt with at this time if their society was to prosper.
It is distinctive of God’s word that honesty in word and action is always treated as
of prime importance. We can contrast this with lands and parts of society where the
word of God does not prevail and dishonesty is a way of life.
So God tells Zechariah that theft and false swearing must be dealt with severely
even to the breaking down of the houses of those who continue in them so that they
will leave the place (a Persian form of punishment, compare Ezra 6:11). And the
assurance is that even if justice cannot track down the perpetrators, God Himself
will. Thus this is a stern warning to those on the land that these things must be put
aside for they will no longer be treated lightly.
WHEDO , "Verse 1
1. The introductory formula is similar to that in Zechariah 2:1.
A… roll — Among the ancients written documents were preserved in the form of
rolls. LXX., omitting the final letter of the Hebrew word, reads “sickle,” which
would give good sense, but the dimensions given in Zechariah 5:2 favor the Hebrew
text.
Flying — Moving swiftly from the judgment throne above, where the destruction
was decreed, to its destination upon earth.
Verses 1-4
The sixth vision — the flying roll, 1-4.

13. In meaning this vision is similar to the seventh, but there seems insufficient reason
for thinking that the two are parts of one and the same vision. The prophet beholds
flying through the air an immense roll. He is told by the interpreter that the roll
symbolizes the curse of God, and that it will enter the houses of all evil doers and
consume them utterly. In Zechariah 3:9, is promised the removal of iniquity from
the land; this vision indicates one means by which this is to be accomplished,
namely, the destruction of the wicked.
PULPIT, "Zechariah 5:1
Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes; i.e. I lifted up mine eyes again, and saw the
vision that follows. The prophet had seen, in the fourth vision, how in the new
theocracy the priesthood should be pure and holy; in the fifth how the Church
should be restored; he is now shown that sinners should be cut off, that no
transgression should be left in the kingdom of God. A flying roll; volumen volans
(Vulgate): comp. Ezekiel 2:9, Ezekiel 2:10. The Hebrews used parchment and
leather scrolls for writing; the writing was divided into columns, and when
completed the document was rolled round one or two sticks and kept in a ease. In
the present vision the scroll is unrolled and exhibited in its full length and breadth,
showing that it was to be made known to all. Its flight denotes the speedy arrival of
the judgment, and, as it is seen in the heaven, so the punishment proceeds from God.
Theodotion and Aquila render the word, διφθέρα, "leather;" the Septuagint, by
mistake, δρέπανον, "a sickle."
BI 1-4, "And I turned . . . and looked, and behold a flying roll
The flying roll
The object of this discourse is to present to you the Scriptures as a phenomenon of the
world around us.
Consider them as an appearance in the circle of our observation, a fact in the history of
our race, and ask, what account is to be given of it? The attention of our age is taken up
much and wisely with the study of phenomena. We may interpret the Scriptures in one
way or another; we may study or neglect, revere or despise them; we may consider them
to be the dictates of observation, or below the level of human intelligence; we may call
them a word of delusion, or the Word of God; but in the extremest varieties of opinion
no one can escape from this,—that they are a leading phenomenon in the history of
civilisation and religious thought, in the aspect of the moral world as it now stands and
moves before us. In the text an angel speaks in vision to one of the last of the prophets,
and asks, as if in the very spirit of modern research, “What seest thou?” The prophet
raises his eyes and sees a winged book, “a flying roll.” It is of gigantic dimensions. It is of
restless speed. It “goeth forth over the face of the whole earth.” It was the roll of the
Lord’s judgments—a consuming fire. In this respect the Bible corresponds with it only in
one of its parts, but in that part perfectly: in its testimony against, unrighteousness, its
sentence upon those who love and practise dishonour, its “fiery law.” Dealing with the
“flying roll” more generally, what are the points that we discover in it?
1. The extraordinary dimensions of the book, “its length twenty cubits, and its
breadth ten.” What a space does the Bible fill in the gaze of mankind, though it can

14. be carried about in the hand of the feeblest wayfarer! Do we not speak truly of its
wonderful dimensions when it holds on its ample pages such a widely scattered
wisdom, and is discerned from so far?
2. Its preservation and continuance through so long a sweep of time. This is
remarkable even at a first glance. Since faithful Abraham came out from Chaldaea
vast tribes and strong nations have risen to renown and passed away into silence.
Founders of states have not so much as secured the name of what they founded.
Dispensers of religion have left neither a priest for their successor nor a shrine for
their monument. Oracles of wisdom have grown forgotten as well as dumb. Genius
and learning have gone down into the dust, and there is not a finger track of an
inscription upon it for their posterity to read. Whole literatures have disappeared,
their tongues having ceased, and their characters become illegible or blotted entirely
out. But here is writing, from many hands, and in a long series of instructions, dating
as far back as the school lessons of human improvement. It has defied time. It has
repelled decay. The linen, or the parchment, or whatever frail material it was
confided to, held fast its trust, while brazen trophies were melted down and marble
columns were pulverised. The temple of the Lord protected its archives; though its
huge stones were unable to hold themselves together, and its sacred vessels served at
last but for the ornaments of a heathen triumph.
3. Its spread. It is, indeed, a “flying roll.” The Scriptures move rapidly. They are not
only preserved, but incredibly multiplied. They were addressed for the most part to
one people, and they now speak to all people. They were written in their own peculiar
tongues, and now they call all tongues their own. Have they not “gone forth over the
face of the whole earth”? They are among the studies of learned men, who find there
a wisdom higher than all else they know; while the ignorant and the simple, reading
as they run, are made wise to life everlasting.
4. The honour with which they have been received as they have flown along. They
are recognised in the public worship of most of the civilised tribes now under
heaven. They are enshrined in cathedrals. They are revered, at least with all outward
forms of homage, in the courts of the proudest empires. They are sworn upon when
the most solemn vows by which we can be bound are to be attested. The patient
fingers of holy recluses could for centuries find no better task than to copy them; and
countless presses are now perpetually busy, that they may be distributed over the
globe. The rarest genius and the profoundest learning are employed upon the
illustration of them. It may be objected that we have said nothing of the disrespect
and derision with which the Scriptures are regarded by multitudes, and have always
been. We may admit this, but press the consideration, that they have withstood even
this trial. Familiarity and levity have not subjected them to contempt. Nothing could
better show how deeply they are seated in the veneration of mankind.
5. Their influence, their surprising power. There may be a high repute without any
true efficiency. But that roll of the Divine covenants has always been of a Divine
force. It has acted upon communities, wherever it has been introduced, so as to
accomplish the most astonishing consequences. Are you inquiring what overthrew
many of the massy oppressions, the enormous abuses, of the elder times? It was its
paper edges that smote upon all that dark strength, and before those thin leaves
buttress and battlement went down. How much has it done for individual minds.
6. Their immeasurable superiority, as mere traditions, above everything that has
been handed down to us from the ancient world. There is in their contents a deep
spring of instruction, such as the old generations nowhere furnish, and the coming

15. ones are not likely soon to exhaust. Your own minds will surely leap to the inference:
the finger of God was here. You may be perplexed with many passages in your Bible.
You may slight some things as unimportant, and repel others as uncongenial. You
may think you discern great blemishes and errors here and there. But what of that?
It should throw no mistrust over the spontaneous conclusion: the finger of God was
here. Yes, the Divine providence ordained and protected this charter of man’s truest
liberty and highest good. Let us look thoughtfully at it, then, as it flies on its holy
errand. (N. L. Frothingham.)
The flying roll
The import of this vision is threatening, to show that the object of the prophet was to
produce genuine repentance. The parts are significant. A roll, probably of parchment, is
seen, 30 by 15 feet, the exact dimensions of the temple porch; where the law was usually
read, showing that it was authoritative in its utterance, and connected with the
theocracy. Being a written thing, it showed that its contents were solemnly determined
beyond all escape or repeal. It was flying, to show that its threats were ready to do their
work, and descend on every transgressor. It was unrolled, or its dimensions could not
have been seen, to show that its warnings were openly proclaimed to all, that none might
have an excuse. It was written on both sides, to connect it with the tables of the law, and
show its comprehensive character. One side denounced perjury, a sin of the first table,
the other stealing, a sin of the second; and both united in every case where a thief took
the oath of expurgation to acquit himself of the charge of theft. This hovering curse
would descend in every such case into the house of the offender, and consume even its
most enduring parts, until it had thoroughly done its work of destruction. The
immediate application of this vision was to those who were neglecting the erection of
God’s house to build their own, and thus robbing God and forswearing their obligations
to Him. On such the prophet declares a curse shall descend that will make this selfish
withholding of their efforts in vain, for the houses they would build should be consumed
by God’s wrath. The teaching of this vision is that of the law. It blazes with the fire, and
echoes with the thunder of Sinai, and tells us that our God is a consuming fire. We learn
thus a lesson of instruction to those who have succeeded the prophets of the Old
Testament, as the authorised expounders of God’s will under the New. It is needful to tell
the love of God, to unfold His precious promises, and to utter words of cheer and
encouragement. But it is also needful to declare the other aspect of God’s character.
There is a constant tendency in the human heart to abuse the goodness of God to an
encouragement of sin. Hence ministers of the Gospel must declare this portion of God’s
counsel as well as the other. They must declare to men who are living in neglect of duty,
that withholding what is due to God, either in heart or life, is combined robbery and
perjury. For those who thus sin, God has prepared a ministry of vengeance. There is
something most vivid and appalling in this image of the hovering curse. It flies viewless
and resistless, poising like a falcon over her prey, breathing a ruin the most dire and
desolating, and when the blind and hardened offender opens his door to his ill-gotten
gains, this mystic roll, with its fire tracery of wrath, enters into his habitation, and,
fastening upon his cherished idols, begins its dread work of retribution, and ceases not
until the fabric of his guilty life has been totally and irremediably consumed. (T. V.
Moore, D. D.)

16. The flying roll
I. The man who is marked as a special transgressor is marked also for special judgment.
The curse went “forth over the face of the whole earth,” but it was to cut off the thief and
the false swearer. In the Hebrew nation there were many sinners, but there, as
everywhere else, there were sinners who had not yet filled up the measure of their
iniquity, and there were others who had passed all bounds, whose transgressions were so
great as to make them marks upon which the lightnings of God’s displeasure must fall.
II. Escape from the consequences of unrepented sin is impossible. It is not necessary
that the sin should reveal itself in action to ensure the entail of the certain penalty. If it
never passes the boundary of the inner man there will be a reaction upon the man’s
spirit as certainly as night follows day, and more so because, though God has suspended
the laws of nature, we have no reason to suppose He has ever interposed to prevent the
consequences of sin, unless the sinner has come under the power of another law,—the
law of forgiveness by confession and repentance. However hidden the transgression, the
curse will find out its most secret hiding place.
III. Theft and perjury include all other sins. The son who forges his father’s name
includes in that one act every other crime that he can commit against him except that of
taking his life. He only needs occasion to reveal his readiness for any other act of
dishonour toward his parent. The man who deliberately appeals to God to uphold him in
his false statements forges the name of the Eternal Himself, and seeks to turn the God of
truth into the Father of lies.
IV. The special sins of some bring suffering upon many. The curse went forth “over the
whole earth,” or land. It is a truth proclaimed by God and verified by experience, that
many may suffer by the sin of the few to whom they are in no way related. See this
principle, and its bright reverse, illustrated by St. Paul in Rom_5:18. (Outlines by
London Minister.)
The flying roll
The threatenings here are directed against the defects and transgressions of the Jewish
people at that time. God gives them to understand by this vision that whilst it was His
purpose to make His promise good, in the establishment of His Church, He would by no
means connive at their sins and corruptions, but would visit them with present
punishment, and with future extirpation, if they persisted in their unbelief and rebellion.
I. The sins more especially condemned.
1. Theft and sacrilege.
2. Perjury and false swearing.
II. The punishment threatened. Partly personal and partly domestic.
1. A personal judgment is denounced. Everyone shall receive his reward and
punishment according to his sins, and according to the sentence of the roll.
2. It was to extend to his relative and domestic interests. “It shall enter into the
house of the thief.” “It shall remain in the midst of his house.” “And shall consume it
with the timbers thereof, and the stones thereof.” This subject may well teach heads
of families a lesson of religious caution, lest by an undue anxiety for their own
worldly success, or that of their children, they frustrate their most cherished

17. purposes, and entail a curse rather than a blessing. We shall do well to remember
that no external evil which may befall a particular class of mankind, in consequence
of the faults of their progenitors, renders any individual of that class less acceptable
to God, if he turn from his wickedness and repent. But the very curse may become a
blessing, if it operate to warn an individual against the sin by which it was brought
down upon him. On the other hand, let no children of religious parents suppose that
the piety of a long line of ancestors will avail in their behalf, unless they are
themselves the possessors of religious principle. And since all are exposed to an
infinite danger on account of sin, how deep should be our gratitude to that Divine
Redeemer, who bore the curse for us, that we might escape the impending penalty,
and inherit the unspeakable blessings of His salvation. (S. Thodey.)
The flying roll—Divine retribution
I. As following sin.
1. The particular sins which retribution pursues.
(1) Theft and sacrilege.
(2) Perjury and false swearing.
The sins here mentioned are not mere specimens, but root or fountain sins. The “flying
roll” of Divine retribution followed sin with its curses. There is a curse to every sin, and
this is not vengeance, but benevolence. It is the arrangement of love.
2. The way in which just retribution pursues them.
(1) Openly. The roll is spread open, and is written in characters that are legible to
all Divine retribution is no secret to man. It is not some intangible, hidden, occult
thing. It is open to all eyes. Every man must see the “riving roll,” not only in the
history of nations and communities, but in his own domestic and individual life.
The “flying roll” hovers over every sin.
(2) Rapidly. Retribution is swift. It is a “flying roll.” Retribution follows sins
swifter than the sound of the swiftest thunder peal follows the lightning flash.
(3) Penetratingly. “I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter
into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My
name.” Wherever the sinner is, it will find him out. No mountain so high, no
cavern so deep, no forest so intricate and shadowy as to protect him from His
visitation. It serves to illustrate retribution.
II. As abiding with sin. “It shall remain in the midst of his house.” Not only does it rule
the house of the sinner, “it remains in the midst of it” like a leprosy, infecting, wasting,
consuming, destroying. It abides in the house to curse everything, even the timber and
the stones. Guilt, not only, like a ravenous beast, crouches at the door of the sinner, but
rather, like a blasting mildew, spreads its baneful influence over the whole dwelling. The
sin of one member of a family brings its curse on the others. The sins of the parents
bring a curse upon the children. (Homilist.)
Judgment with consolation
The angel shows, in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, proceeded

18. from the righteous judgment of God; and then he adds a consolation—that the Lord
would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils, when He had removed afar off their
iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither heaven nor earth in their explanation of this
prophecy, for they have not regarded the designs of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by
the volume are to be understood false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of
doctrine had been vitiated; but this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt
but that God intended to show to Zechariah that the Jews were justly punished, because
the whole land was full of thefts and perjuries. As their religion had been despised, as
well as equity and justice, he shows that it was no wonder a curse had prevailed through
the whole land, the Jews having by their impiety and sins extremely provoked the wrath
of God. This is the import of the first part. And then, as this vision was terrible, there is
added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the mouth of the
measure closed, and afterwards carries to the land of Shinar, that is, into Chaldea, that it
might not remain in Judea. Thus, in the former part the prophet’s design was to humble
the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that they might own God to have been
justly angry; and then he gives them reason to entertain hope, and fully to expect an end
to their evils, for the Lord would remove to a distance, and transfer their iniquity to
Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and free from every wickedness, both from thefts
and acts of injustice, by which it had been previously polluted. (John Calvin.)
This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth—
The Lord’s curse
This type is expounded to signify the Lord’s curse going forth to do execution in all the
land of Judah, and to cut off sinners against the first and second tables of the Law.
Doctrine—
1. Whatever be the particular punishment inflicted by God for sin, yet this is
seriously to be laid to heart, that every such punishment hath in its bosom a curse,
till the sinner, awakened thereby, flee to Christ, who became a curse, that His own
may inherit a blessing.
2. The Lord is an impartial avenger of sin, when it is persevered in without
repentance; and when other means are ineffectual, He will not spare to cut off the
desperate sinner; for the curse goes forth “over the face of the whole earth,” or land;
and “everyone shall be cut off,” without exception, who are guilty.
3. The Lord will not spare but indifferently punish sin, whether against the first or
second tables, in avoiding of both which the Lord’s people are to testify their
sincerity. This is signified by “cutting off everyone that stealeth, and everyone that
sweareth.”
4. When a people are delivered out of sore troubles, and yet their lusts are not
modified, they ordinarily prove covetous, false, and oppressing, as labouring by all
means to make up these things that trouble hath stript them of; therefore is there a
particular threat against everyone that stealeth, it being a rife sin at their return
from captivity, for they went every man to his own house (Hag_1:9), were cruel
oppressors (Neh_5:1-3), yea, and robbed God of tithes and offerings (Mal_3:8).
5. Covetous and false men, in their bargains with men, will make no bones of impiety
and perjury, if that may help to gain their point; for with the former is joined
“everyone that sweareth,” which is expounded, Zec_5:4, to be “swearing falsely by

19. God’s name.” (George Hutcheson.)
It shall remain in the midst of his house—
A curse in the family
As certain as the ordinances of nature, is the law that ill-gotten gain will bring a curse.
The following is a startling illustration of the truth, gathered from the history of a rural
town:—“In 1786, a youth, then residing in Maine, owned a jackknife, which he, being of a
somewhat trading disposition, sold for a gallon of West India rum. This he retailed, and
with the proceeds purchased two gallons, and eventually a barrel, which was followed in
due time with a large stock. In a word, he got rich, and became the squire of the district,
through the possession and sale of the jackknife, and an indomitable trading industry.
He died, leaving property, in real estate and money value, worth eighty thousand dollars.
This was divided by testament among four children, three boys and a girl. Luck, which
seemed the guardian angel of the father, deserted the children; for every folly and
extravagance they could engage in seemed to occupy their exclusive attention and
cultivation. The daughter married unfortunately, and her patrimony was soon thrown
away by her spendthrift of a husband. The sons were no more fortunate, and two died in
dissipation and in poverty. The daughter also died. The last of the family, for many years
past, has lived on the kindness of those who knew him in the days of prosperity, as pride
would not allow him to go to the poor farm. A few days ago he died, suddenly and
unattended, in a barn, where he had laid himself down to take a drunken sleep. On his
pockets being examined, all that was found in them was a small piece of string and a
jackknife! So the fortune that began with the implement of that kind left its simple
duplicate. We leave the moral to be drawn in whatever fashion it may suggest itself to the
reader; simply stating that the story is a true one, and all the facts well known to many
whom this relation will doubtless reach.” (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)
A plague in the house
How terribly those words have been fulfilled in the case of people and families we have
known! It has seemed as though there were a plague in the house. The fortune which had
been accumulated with such toil has crumbled; the children turned out sources of
heartrending grief; the reputation of the father has become irretrievably tarnished.
“There is a plague spread in the house; it is a fretting leprosy, it is unclean.” No man can
stand against that curse. It confronts him everywhere. It touches his most substantial
effects, and they pulverise, as furniture eaten through by white ants. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits

20. long and ten cubits wide.[a]”
BAR ES, "And he - (the interpreting angel) said unto me It cannot be without
meaning, that the dimensions of the roll should be those of the tabernacle , as the last
vision was that of the candlestick, after the likeness of the candlestick therein. The
explanations of this correspondence do not exclude each other. It may be that “judgment
shall begin at the house of God” 1Pe_4:17; that the punishment on sin is proportioned to
the nearness of God and the knowledge of Him; that the presence of God, which was for
life, might also be to death, as Paul says; “God maketh manifest the savor of this
knowledge by us in every place; for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that
are saved and in them that perish; to the one we are the savor of death unto death, and
to the other the savor of life unto life” 2Co_2:14-16; and Simeon said, “This child is set
for the fall and rising again of many in Israel” Luk_2:34.
GILL, "And he said unto me,.... That is, the angel:
What seest thou? and I answered, I see a flying roll, the length whereof is
twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits; so that it was a very large one,
a volume of a very uncommon size, especially it may so seem to us; but in other nations
they have very long rolls or volumes, even longer than this: the Russians write their acts,
protests, and other court matters, on long rolls of paper, some twenty ells, some thirty,
and some sixty, and more (x): and this being the length and breadth of the porch before
the temple, 1Ki_6:3 hence the Jewish writers conclude that this flying roll came from
thence: it may design either the roll or book in which the sins of men are written; which
is very large, and will quickly be brought into judgment, when it will be opened, and men
will be judged according to it; which shows the notice God takes of the sins of men; the
exact knowledge he has of them; his strict remembrance of them; and the certain
account men must give of them another day: or, the book of God's judgments upon
sinners, such as was Ezekiel's roll, Eze_2:9 which are many and great; are rolled up, and
not at present to be searched into; but are flying, coming on, and will be speedily
executed: or rather the book of the law, called a roll or volume, Psa_40:7 and which will
be a swift witness against the breakers of it, as more fully appears from the explanation
of it in the next verse Zec_5:3. It is a mere fancy and conceit of some that the Talmud is
meant by this roll, the body of the Jewish traditions, which make void the commands of
God, take away the blessing, and leave a curse in the land, as they did in the land of
Judea.
JAMISO , "length ... twenty cubits ... breadth ... ten cubits — thirty feet by
fifteen, the dimensions of the temple porch (1Ki_6:3), where the law was usually read,
showing that it was divinely authoritative in the theocracy. Its large size implies the great
number of the curses contained. The Hebrew for “roll” or “volume” is used of the law
(Psa_40:7)
CALVI , "He afterwards adds, that he was asked by the angel what he saw. He

21. might indeed have said, that a roll flying in the air appeared to him, but he did not
as yet understand what it meant; hence the angel performed the office of an
interpreter. But he says, that the roll was twenty cubits long, and ten broad. The
Rabbis think that the figure of the court of the temple is here represented, for the
length of the court was twenty cubits and its breadth was ten; and hence they
suppose, that the roll had come forth from the temple, that there might be fuller
reason to believe that God had sent forth the roll. And this allusion, though not
sufficiently grounded, is yet more probable than the allegory of the puerile Jerome,
who thinks that this ought to be applied to Christ, because he began to preach the
gospel in his thirtieth year. Thus he meant to apply this number to the age of Christ,
when he commenced his office as a teacher. But this is extreme trifling. I do not feel
anxious to know why the length or the breadth is mentioned; for it seems not to be
much connected with the main subject. But if it be proper to follow a probable
conjecture, what I have already referred to is more admissible — that the length
and breadth of the roll are stated, that the Jews might fully understand that nothing
was set before them but what God himself sanctioned, as they clearly perceived a
figure of the court of the temple.
TRAPP, "Verse 2
Zechariah 5:2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying
roll; the length thereof [is] twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
Ver. 2. What seest thou?] q.d. Mark it well, and let thine eye affect thine heart; let
these things be oculis commissa fidelibus.
I see a flying book] {See Trapp on "Zechariah 5:1"} Some read it, A double book
(according to the Chaldaic signification of the word), as containing double, that is,
manifold, menaces and punishments of sin. But the Chaldee paraphrast, Septuagint,
and others, render it flying; as hasting and hovering over the heads of wicked
persons.
The length thereof is twenty cubits, &c.] Ten yards long, and five broad. either let
men say that words are but wind, as they did, Jeremiah 5:13. For, 1. Even wind,
when gotten into the bowels of the earth, may cause an earthquake; as when into the
bowels of the body a heartquake. 2. God threateneth those scoffers, Jeremiah 5:14,
that he will make that word, which they termed wind, to become fire, and
themselves fuel to feed it. And as fire grows quickly upon fuel fully dried, ahum
1:10, and consumeth it in an instant, so God’s flying roll will lick up the evildoers,
no otherwise than the fire from heaven after it had consumed the sacrifice, the
wood, the stones, and the dust, licked up also the water that was in the trench, 1
Kings 18:38. The threatenings of God’s law (the same with this roll) are (as Erasmus
saith of Ezekiel 3:18) fulmina non verba, lightbolts rather than words; or if words,
yet they are (as one saith) verba non legenda sed vivenda, words not to be read only,
but lived; at least, not to be read as men do the old stories of foreign wars, wherein

22. they are nothing concerned (but as threatening themselves in every threat, cursing
themselves in every curse, &c.), nor as they read the predictions of an almanack for
wind and weather, which they think may come to pass, and it may be not; but be
confident of this very thing, that God who hath denounced it will surely do it, and
that he will execute the judgment written in this roll, Psalms 149:9, yea, every
sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will the
Lord cause to descend upon the disobedient, until they be destroyed, Deuteronomy
28:61.
CO STABLE, "The prophet replied to the interpreting angel, who asked him what
he saw, that he saw a flying scroll that was20 cubits long and10 cubits wide (30 feet
by15 feet). Several commentators made connections between this scroll and the
tabernacle and the temple since these were the dimensions of the holy place of the
tabernacle ( Exodus 26:8) and the porch in front of the holy place of Solomon"s
temple ( 1 Kings 6:3). But this correspondence seems to be coincidental. The scroll
that Zechariah saw was open and large so people could read it easily. During the
restoration period the returnees demonstrated an increased interest in the Mosaic
Law, which was written on scrolls (cf. ehemiah 8). o one could plead ignorance
because the scroll in Zechariah"s vision was large enough for all to see and read.
ELLICOTT, "(2) He.—The angel-interpreter. (Comp. Zechariah 5:5.)
The length . . . and the breadth . . .—These were the dimensions of the holy place of
the Mosaic Tabernacle, also of the porch of Solomon’s Temple. If, then, we are to
consider the measurement of the scroll as symbolical, we may regard it as indicating
that the measure of the sanctuary is the measure of sin: that is, the sinner must not
say, “I am not worse than my neighbour,” but should measure his conduct by the
standard: “Become ye holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44; comp. Matthew 5:48).
BE SO , "Verses 2-4
Zechariah 5:2-4. The length thereof is twenty cubits, &c. — Such scrolls for writing
were usually longer than they were broad; so this was represented as ten yards in
length, and five in breadth. The roll was very large, to show what a number of
curses would come upon the wicked. Then said he, This is the curse, &c. — This
roll, or book, contains the curses, or judgments, due to sinners, particularly sinners
of the Jews, who have been favoured with greater light and privileges than other
people, and whose sins, therefore, are the more inexcusable. That goeth over the face
of the whole earth — Or rather, of the whole land; for the land of Judea only seems
to be here meant. Every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side, &c. — The
roll was written on both sides, as that mentioned Ezekiel 2:10 : and on one side were
contained the judgments against stealing, and on the other against false swearing.
These two sins are joined together, because in the Jewish courts men were
compelled to purge themselves by oath, in case they were accused of theft; and they
often would forswear themselves rather than discover the truth. Considering the
time when Zechariah prophesied, it seems probable, that those who made use of
fraud with respect to what had been dedicated to the rebuilding of the temple, and
restoring the service of God, are here particularly referred to. According to Calmet,

23. under the two names of theft and false swearing, the Hebrews and Chaldeans
included all other crimes; theft denoting every injustice and violence executed
against men, and perjury all crimes committed against God. Instead of on this side,
and on that side, ewcome reads, from hence, namely, from the land. And instead of
shall be cut off, the Vulgate reads, judicabitur, shall be judged; and Houbigant,
shall be punished. It must be acknowledged, however, that the Hebrew word ‫,נקה‬ so
rendered, rather means, carries himself as innocent, or, asserts himself to be
innocent; or, is declared innocent, or, left unpunished, namely, by the magistrate.
Blayney therefore translates the clause, Because, on the one hand, every one that
stealeth is as he that is guiltless; and, on the other hand, every one that sweareth is
as he that is guiltless. On which he observes, “The reason assigned for the curse
going forth through the whole land is, that the good and the bad, the innocent and
the guilty, were in every part of it looked upon and treated alike; so that it was time
for the divine justice to interpose, and make the proper distinction between them.”
And it shall enter, &c. — This curse shall come with commission from me; into the
house of the thief — Where he had laid up that which he got by theft, thinking to
enjoy it to his satisfaction. Or, by his house may be understood his family, estate,
and goods: it shall take hold of him, and all that belong to him, and shall never leave
them till their are utterly destroyed. And it shall remain in the midst of the house —
It shall stick close to them and theirs, as Gehazi’s leprosy did to him and his
posterity; or, like the leprosy that infects a house, and cannot be purged till the
house itself be pulled down.
WHEDO , "Verses 2-4
2. The interpreting angel calls the attention of the prophet to the new vision by
means of a question (compare Zechariah 4:2, and see references there). The roll was
unfolded, so that its immense size could be recognized.
Length… twenty cubits… the breadth… ten cubits — The measurements of the
porch of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:3) and of the holy place in the tabernacle, as it
may be determined from Exodus 26, and as it is given by Josephus (Antiquities, iii,
Zechariah 6:4). The exact figures may have been suggested by one or the other of
these places, but it is not probable that they possess any special symbolic meaning;
all they are intended to do is to indicate the great size of the roll. The Hebrews
appear to have used two cubits, one a little longer than the other, but the data are
insufficient to determine the exact length of either; the length of the common cubit is
estimated at approximately eighteen inches (see Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible,
article “Weights and Measures”).
The interpretation is given in Zechariah 5:3-4.
This is the curse — We must think of the roll as inscribed, perhaps upon both sides,
with a curse or curses, similar to those in Deuteronomy 27:15-26; Deuteronomy
28:15-68, though there is no reason to suppose that the prophet has in mind these
curses.
The whole earth — Better, R.V., “land.” Zechariah 5:6 and especially Zechariah

24. 5:11 clearly show that the reference is to Palestine or Judah, or at the most to the
extended Judah (Zechariah 2:11). Two classes of criminals are singled out.
Shall be cut off — The Hebrew verb is used ordinarily in the sense of acquit, free
from guilt; in this passage most commentators take it in a physical sense, clear away
— cut off, or destroy (Isaiah 3:26).
On this side — R.V., “on the one side”; better, margin, “from hence,” that is, from
the land.
According to it — According to the curses inscribed upon the roll. Some
commentators insist that the more common meaning of the verb should be retained;
if that is done the text of the rest of the verse must be changed. Wellhausen reads,
“For everyone that stealeth hath for long remained unpunished, and everyone that
sweareth hath for long remained unpunished”; therefore Jehovah is sending his
judgment.
Everyone that sweareth — Must be interpreted in the light of Zechariah 5:4 as
equivalent to “everyone that sweareth falsely by my name.” The Old Testament does
not condemn swearing per se; it condemns only false swearing (compare Hosea 4:2);
Matthew 5:34 ff., is on the ew Testament level.
I will bring it forth — Better and literally, I have caused it to go forth: it has already
started on its mission of judgment. Its destination is the houses of the evil doers.
Shall remain — Literally, lodge over night; but it will not sleep.
Shall consume — ot only will it announce the judgment, it will execute it.
It — The house, including the inhabitants.
With the timber thereof and the stones thereof — That is, utterly.
Only two forms of wickedness are specified, stealing and false swearing. It is hardly
likely, however, that these were the only sins recognized or prevalent in the days of
Zechariah; it seems better to regard these as types of two classes of wickedness,
stealing as representing all sins committed against man, false swearing by the name
of Jehovah as representing all sins committed against Jehovah. Under these two
heads all forms of sin may be grouped, as in the Decalogue. If this is done the vision
symbolizes the destruction of sinners of every sort.
PULPIT, "Zechariah 5:2
He said. The angel-interpreter spoke (Zechariah 4:2). The length thereof, etc.
Taking the cubit at a foot and a half, the size of the roll is enormous, and may well
have aroused the prophet's wonder. The dimensions given correspond to those of
the porch of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:3), twenty cubits long by ten broad. These

25. are also the dimensions of the holy place in the tabernacle, and of Solomon's brazen
altar (2 Chronicles 4:1). The careful statement of the size of the roll indicates that
some special meaning is attached to these measurements. We do not know that any
symbolical signification was recognized in the porch of the temple; but these
dimensions may well contain a reference to the sanctuary and the altar, as
Knabenbauer explains, "The curse is of the same measure as that altar which was
the instrument of expiation and reconciliation, and as that sanctuary which was the
entrance to the holy of holies." Others consider that the curse is pronounced
according to the measure of the sanctuary, i.e. according to the Divine Law; or that
all might thus know that it came from God, and that the possession of the temple did
not secure the people from vengeance unless they were pure and obedient.
3 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.
BAR ES, "Over the face of the whole earth - primarily land, since the perjured
persons, upon whom the curse was to fall Zec_5:4, were those who swore falsely by the
name of God: and this was in Judah only. The reference to the two tables of the law also
confines it primarily to those who were under the law. Yet, since the moral law abides
under the Gospel, ultimately these visions related to the Christian Church, which was to
be spread over the whole earth. The roll apparently was shown, as written on both sides;
the commandments of the first table, in which perjury is forbidden, on the one side;
those relating to the love of our neighbor, in which stealing is forbidden, on the other.
Theodoret: “He calleth curse that vengeance, which goeth through the whole world, and
is brought upon the workers of iniquity. But hereby both prophets and people were
taught, that the God of all is the judge of all people, and will exact meet punishment of
all, bringing utter destruction not on those only who live ungodly toward Himself, but on
those also who are unjust to their neighbors. For let no one think that this threat was
only against thieves and false-swearers; for He gave sentence against all iniquity. For
since all the law and the prophets hang on this word, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself,” He comprised every sort of sin under false

26. swearing and theft. The violation of oaths is the head of all ungodliness. One who so
doeth is devoid of the love of God. But theft indicates injustice to one’s neighbor; for no
one who loves his neighbor will endure to be unjust to him. These heads then
comprehend all the other laws.”
Shall be cut off - Literally, “cleansed away” , as something defiled and defiling,
which has to be cleared away as offensive: as God says, “I will take away the remnant of
the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, until it be all gone” (1Ki_14:10, add
1Ki_21:21), and so often in Deuteronomy, “thou shalt put the evil away from the midst of
thee” (Deu_13:5 (6 Heb.); Deu_17:7; Deu_19:19; Deu_21:21; Deu_22:21, Deu_22:24;
Deu_24:7), or “of Israel” Deu_17:12; Deu_23:22, and in Ezekiel, “I will disperse thee in
the countries and will consume thy filthiness out of thee” Eze_22:15. Set it empty upon
the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot and may burn, and the filthiness of it
may be molten, that the scum of it may be consumed” Eze_24:11.
CLARKE, "Every one that stealeth - and every one that sweareth - It seems
that the roll was written both on the front and back: stealing and swearing are supposed
to be two general heads of crimes; the former, comprising sins against men; the latter,
sins against God. It is supposed that the roll contained the sins and punishments of the
Chaldeans.
GILL, "Then said he unto me, This is the curse,.... So the law of Moses is called,
because it has curses written in it, Deu_27:15 which curse is not causeless, but is
according to law and justice; it is from the Lord, and is no other than the wrath of the
Almighty; and, wherever it lights, it will remain and continue for ever. Vitringa, on Isa_
24:6 says, this is the curse which Isaiah there prophesies of, which had its
accomplishment in the times of Antiochus; but there the prophet is speaking, not of the
land of Judea, but of the antichristian states.
That goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: over the whole land of Judea,
and the inhabitants of it, for their breach of the law, contempt of the Gospel, and the
rejection of the Messiah; and which had its accomplishment when wrath came upon
them to the uttermost, in the destruction of their nation, city, and temple; and is the
curse God threatened to smite their land with, Mal_4:6 and this curse also reaches to the
whole world, and the inhabitants of it, who lie in wickedness; and to all sorts of sinners,
particularly those next mentioned:
for everyone that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side, according to it; as it
is written and declared on one side of the roll:
and everyone that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it; as
is written and declared on the other side of the roll; which two sins of theft and false
swearing, the one being against the second, and the other the first table of the law, show
that the curse of the law reaches to all sorts of sins and sinners; to all who do not keep it
in every respect: and, indeed, to all but those who are redeemed from it by the blood of
Christ; and that it is proportioned according to a man's sins: and those two are
particularly mentioned, because they are sins which prevailed among the Jews at the
time Christ was on earth. Theft did, both in a literal and figurative sense, Mat_23:14 and

27. so did vain swearing, Mat_5:33.
HE RY, "How it was expounded to him, Zec_5:3, Zec_5:4. This flying roll is a curse;
it contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against those sinners especially
who by swearing affront God's majesty or by stealing invade their neighbour's property.
Let every Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with trembling; for if he swear,
if he steal, if he live in any course of sin, he shall see them with his eyes, but shall not
have the comfort of them, for against him the curse has gone forth. If I be wicked, woe to
me for all this. Now observe here,
1. The extent of this curse; the prophet sees it flying, but which way does it steer its
course? It goes forth over the face of the whole earth, not only of the land of Israel, but
the whole world; for those that have sinned against the law written in their hearts only
shall by that law be judged, though they have not the book of the law. Note, All mankind
are liable to the judgment of God; and, wherever sinners are, any where upon the face of
the whole earth, the curse of God can and will find them out and seize them. Oh that we
could with an eye of faith see the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world
as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sun-beams of God's favour from them, but big
with thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would
the tidings of a Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law by being
himself made a curse for us, and, like the prophet, eating this roll! The vast length and
breadth of this roll intimate what a multitude of curses sinners lie exposed to. God will
make their plagues wonderful, if they turn not.
2. The criminals against whom particularly this curse is levelled. The world is full of
sin in great variety: so was the Jewish church at this time. But two sorts of sinners are
here specified as the objects of this curse: - (1.) Thieves; it is for every one that steals,
that by fraud or force takes that which is not his own, especially that robs God and
converts to his own use what was devoted to God and his honour, which was a sin much
complained of among the Jews at this time, Mal_3:8; Neh_13:10. Sacrilege is, without
doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that robs his father or mother, and saith, It is
no transgression (Pro_28:24), let him know that against him this curse is directed, for it
is against every one that steals. The letter of the eighth commandment has no penalty
annexed to it; but the curse here is a sanction to that command. (2.) Swearers. Sinners of
the former class offend against the second table, these against the first; for the curse
meets those that break either table. He that swears rashly and profanely shall not be held
guiltless, much less he that swears falsely (Zec_5:4); he imprecates the curse upon
himself by his perjury, and so shall his doom be; God will say Amen to his imprecation,
and turn it upon his own head. He has appealed to God's judgment, which is always
according to truth, for the confirming of a lie, and to that judgment he shall go which he
has so impiously affronted.
JAMISO , "curse ... earth — (Mal_4:6). The Gentiles are amenable to the curse of
the law, as they have its substance, so far as they have not seared and corrupted
conscience, written on their hearts (Rom_2:15).
cut off — literally, “cleared away.”
as on this side ... as on that side — both sides of the roll [Vatablus]. From this
place ... from this place (repeated twice, as “the house” is repeated in Zec_5:4) [Maurer];
so “hence” is used, Gen_37:17 (or, “on this and on that side,” that is, on every side)
[Henderson]. None can escape, sin where he may: for God from one side to the other
shall call all without exception to judgment [Calvin]. God will not spare even “this place,”

28. Jerusalem, when it sins [Pembellus]. English Version seems to take Vatablus’ view.
according to it — according as it is written.
CALVI , "The angel then says, that it was the curse which went forth (55) over the
face of the whole land. We must remember what I have just said, that God’s
judgment is here set forth before the Jews, that they might know how justly both
their fathers and themselves have been with so much severity chastised by God,
inasmuch as they had procured for themselves such punishments by their sins. From
the saying of the angel, that the roll went through the whole land, we learn, that not
only a few were guilty, or that some corner of the land only had been polluted, but
that the wrath of God raged everywhere, as no part of the land was pure or free
from wickedness. As then Judea was full of pollutions, it was no wonder that the
Lord poured forth his wrath and overwhelmed, as it were with a deluge, the whole
land.
It afterwards follows, for every thief, or every one that steals, shall on this as on that
side, be punished, or receive his own reward; and every one who swears, shall on
this as on that side be punished. As to the words, interpreters differ with regard to
the particles, ‫כמוה‬ ‫,מזה‬ mese camue; some take the meaning to be, “by this roll, as it
is written;” others, “on this side of the roll, as on the other;” for they think that the
roll was written on both sides, and that God denounced punishment on thieves as
well as on perjurers. But I rather apply the words to the land, and doubt not but
that this is the real meaning of the Prophet. As then there is no respect of persons
with God, the Prophet, after having spoken of the whole land, says, that no one who
had sinned could anywhere escape unpunished, for God would from one part to the
other summon all to judgment without any exception. (56)
ow the Prophet says, that all perjurers, as well as thieves, shall be punished; and
there is nothing strange in this, for God, who has forbidden to steal, has also
forbidden to forswear. He is therefore the punisher of all transgressions. Those who
think that this roll was disapproved, as though it contained false and degenerate
doctrine, bring this reason to prove its injustice, that the thief is as grievously
punished as the perjurer: but this is extremely frivolous. For, as I have said already,
God shows here that he will be the defender of his law in whatever respect men may
have transgressed it. We must therefore remember that saying of James,
“he who forbids to commit adultery, forbids also to steal: whosoever then offends in
one thing is a transgressor of the whole law:” (James 2:11)
for we ought not simply to regard what God either commands or forbids, but we
ought ever to fix our eyes on his majesty, as there is nothing so minute in the law
which all ought not reverently to receive; for the laws themselves are not only to be
regarded, but especially the lawgiver. As then the majesty of God is dishonored,
when any one steals, and when any one transgresses in the least point, he clearly
shows that the word of God is not much regarded by him. It is hence right that
thieves and perjurers should be alike punished: yet the Scripture while it thus
speaks, does not teach that sins are equal in enormity, as the Stoics in former times

29. foolishly and falsely taught. But the equality of punishment is not what is here
referred to; the angel means only, that neither thieves nor perjurers shall go
unpunished, as they have transgressed the law of God.
We must also observe, that the mode of speaking adopted here is that of stating a
part for the whole; for under the word theft is comprehended whatever is opposed
to the duties of love; so that it is to be referred to the second table at the law. And
the Prophet calls all those perjurers who profane the worship of God; and so
perjury includes whatever is contrary to the first table of the law, and tends to
pollute the service due to God. The meaning is, — that God, as I have said, will be
the punisher of all kinds of wickedness, for he has not in vain given his law. Much
deceived then are those who flatter themselves, as though by evasions they can elude
the judgment of God, for both thieves and perjurers shall be brought before God’s
tribunal, so that no one can escape, that is, no wickedness shall remain unpunished;
for not in vain has he once declared by his own mouth, that cursed are all who fulfill
not whatever has been written. (Deuteronomy 27:26.)
And the same thing the Prophet more clearly expresses in the following verse, where
God himself declares what he would do, that he would cause the curse to go forth
over the whole land; as though he had said, “I will really show, that I have not given
the law that it may be despised; for what the law teaches shall be so efficacious, that
every one who violates it shall find that he has to do, not with a mortal man, nor
with sounds of words, but with the heavenly judge; I will bring forth the curse over
the whole land. ”
I have said, that the Prophet was instructed in the import of this vision, that all the
Jews might know that it was nothing strange that they had been so severely
chastised, inasmuch as they had polluted the whole land by their sins, so that no
part of the law was observed by them; for on the one hand they had corrupted the
worship of God and departed from true religion; and on the other, they distressed
one another by many wrongs, and oppressed them by frauds. As then no equity
prevailed among the people, nor any true religion, God shows that he would punish
them all, as none were guiltless.
On the previous words, “this is the curse,” Henderson makes the remark, that it is a
similar phrase to “this is my body,” that is, signifies my body; which is a mode of
speaking quite common in Scripture, and it is very strange that any should attach to
the phrase any other meaning.—Ed.
COFFMA , "Verse 3
"Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole
land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side, according to it; and
every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it."
We take the passage as an interpretation of the vision as a divine curse of evildoers,
as clearly indicated in our version. Scholars have sought by various methods to
make the passage have an opposite meaning. "The translation curse has committed

30. the passage to a sense which the original text does not necessarily support; it could
be blessing!"[6] Much as we might wish it so, the light available to this writer
requires its consideration as a curse.
"Everyone that sweareth ..." A number of scholars would make this a reference to
making a vain oath in God's name, or swearing falsely against a neighbor, but we
must identify it with the common vice of profane swearing, commonly called
"cursing." According to Watts, there is an exact quotation here from the Third
Commandment of the Decalogue, "Whoever takes his name in vain. The vision
obviously refers to Exodus 20:7, and even quotes exactly this law."[7]
"Shall be cut off ..." All sinners would be measured that they might be cut off from
the congregation of the Lord."[8]
The word rendered "curse" in this passage "is used several times in connection with
`covenant' (Genesis 24:41; 26:28; Deuteronomy 29:12; Ezekiel 16:59, etc.)."[9] From
this, it would appear to be a valid deduction that the covenant relationship between
God and the remnant who had returned from Babylon was primarily the thing in
view. Some have therefore understood the vision to mean that, whereas the whole
nation was punished for the sins of Israel which resulted in their captivity, God
would now punish, not the whole nation but only individual sinners. This is an
unacceptable view; because, when a whole nation falls generally into gross sin, the
judgment of God inevitable falls upon such a nation; and this flying scroll indicated
no change in that principle.
What does seem to be the lesson from the vision is that the returned remnant should
be careful to live up to the holy terms of their covenant with God, which was at that
time, and ever was, contingent upon their obedient faith in God.
The near-total destruction of Israel had just occurred as a result of the vast majority
of the people having indulged themselves in wholesale violations of the sacred law.
ow that God had rescued a remnant and reestablished them in Canaan, it was
imperative that they should not get the idea that God no longer was concerned
about their obedience of divine law. This vision was a dramatic reminder that God
most certainly did care. The law of God, so long despised and flouted, was not a
dead letter after all; like a flying scroll overshadowing the whole nation, his word
was living, active, and judgmental with regard to every single violator of it.
Dummelow understood the vision in this sense, saying, "The flying roll signifies the
sin of the evildoer coming home to roost."[10] It was a most necessary vision. The
great error of pre-exilic Israel was their unwarranted assumption that they were
"God's chosen people" no matter what they did.
We agree with Homer Hailey and others that in its primary intention the expression,
face of the whole land, "indicates not the whole earth, but the land of God's people,
wherever they may be."[11] However, the truth here revealed reaches far beyond
that. As Matthew Henry noted:

31. It goes forth over the face of the whole earth, not only of the land of Israel, but the
whole world; for those that have sinned against the law written in their hearts only
shall by that law be judged, though they have not the book of the law. All mankind
are liable to the judgment of God; and, wherever sinners are, anywhere upon the
face of the whole earth, God can and will find them out and seize them.[12]
Gill discussed this at length, basing his arguments upon Paul's writings in the first
two chapters of Romans, and fully supported the conclusion reached by Henry. This
appears to us to be correct.
" o individual, whether he accepts the written law or becomes a law unto himself,
consistently does in every situation of life what he believes to be right ... he proceeds
to violate even his own understanding of right and wrong ... Thus the curse of the
law covers the whole earth."[13]
Certainly the passage can have this meaning, as indicated in the Douay and King
James Version; and even the American Standard Version does not forbid this
understanding of it.
TRAPP, "Verse 3
Zechariah 5:3 Then said he unto me, This [is] the curse that goeth forth over the
face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off [as] on this side
according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off [as] on that side
according to it.
Ver. 3. This is the curse] Or oath, with execration and cursing. Cursing men are
cursed men, and God hath sworn that swearers shall not enter into his rest.
{ umbers 5:21. ‫,אלה‬ ut et αρα Graece, iuramentum et execrationem significat.
Mercer}
That goeth forth] Yea, flieth, Zechariah 5:2, more swiftly than an eagle, an arrow, a
flash of lightning. Or, if not, yet
“ Poena venit gravior, quo mage sera venit. ”
Over the face of the whole earth] Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man
that doth evil; but of the Jew first ( Ingentia beneficia flagitia, supplicia), who is
therefore the worse, because he ought to have been better; and then of the Gentile
also, Romans 2:9. Theodoret, Lyra, and Vatablus think that Judaea is hinted in the
measure of the book (twenty cubits long, and ten broad) as being twice so long (and
somewhat more) as it is broad: witness Jerome in his epistle to Dardanus (Epist.
129). But let the whole earth here be taken in its utmost latitude, since the Gentiles
that sin without the law are yet liable to the punishments of the law. And some of
them by the light of nature saw the evil of swearing; but all generally of stealing; but
especially of perjury and sacrilege, here principally meant. Confer Malachi 3:8,
ehemiah 13:10.