Zechariah 5:2

He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”

World English Bible

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Other translations

WEBBE

He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”

BSB

“What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”

KJV

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.

ASV

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.

BBE

And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, A roll going through the air; it is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.

Original Hebrew

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וַיֹּאמֶר vai·yo·mer and he said H559 אֵלַי 'e·lai to me H413 מָה mah what H4100 אַתָּה 'a·tah [are] you H859 רֹאֶה ro·'eh seeing H7200 וָאֹמַר va·'o·mar and I said H559 אֲנִי 'a·ni I H589 רֹאֶה ro·'eh [am] seeing H7200 מְגִלָּה me·gi·lah a scroll H4039 עָפָה 'a·fah flying H5774 אָרְכָּהּ 'a·re·kah length its H753 עֶשְׂרִים 'es·rim [is] twenty H6242 בָּאַמָּה ba·'a·mah by the cubit H520 וְרָחְבָּהּ ve·ra·che·bah and breadth its H7341 עֶשֶׂר 'e·ser [is] ten H6235 בָּאַמָּה ba·'a·mah by the cubit H520

The early church

It comes in opportunely today even from the Old Testament to show you the heinousness of perjury. "There was," it says, "a flying sickle, ten cubits in breadth." The "flying" betokens the swift advent of the vengeance which pursues oaths; that it is many cubits in length and breadth, signifies the force and magnitude of the woes; that it comes flying "from heaven," is to show that the vengeance comes from the judgment-seat on high: that it is in the form of a "sickle," denotes the inevitableness of the doom: for just as the sickle, where it comes and has hooked the neck, is not drawn back with nothing but itself, but with the head reaped off, even so the vengeance which comes upon the swearers is severe, and will not desist until it have completed its work. But if we swear and escape, let us not be confident; this is but to our woe. For what think ye? How many, since Ananias and Sapphira, have dared the same with them? How is it then, say you, that they have not met with the same fate? Not because it was allowed in them, but because they are reserved for a greater punishment. For those who often sin and are not punished, have greater reason to fear and dread than if they were punished. For the vengeance is increased for them by their present impunity and the long-suffering of God.

John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on Acts

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 1–4

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are rolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and gospel; they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, Psa 147:15. This flying roll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against sinners. Oh that we saw with an eye of faith the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams of God's favour, 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, being himself made a curse for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and families; especially the doing hurt to others and false witness. Who knows the power of God's anger? God's curse cannot be kept out by bars or locks. While one part of the curse of God ruins the substance of the sinner, another part will rest on the soul, and sink it to everlasting punishment. All are transgressors of the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of God, except we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel.

Read Matthew Henry on Zechariah 5 →

Cross-references

Topics

Wicked (People)Symbols And Similitudes

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.