Zechariah 5:8
in Zechariah 5“This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
KJV
And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
⋯
This verse in Zechariah 5
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd he said, This is wickedness,.... A representation of wicked men, who are wickedness itself, as their inward part is, Psa 5:9 and particularly of the wicked one, the man of sin and son of perdition, the Roman antichrist and apocalyptic beast; who, though he is called by this title, "his Holiness", his true and proper name is "wickedness"; ο ανομος, that wicked lawless one, 2Th 2:8 yea, wickedness itself, being extremely wicked, a sink of sin and of all abominations, Rev 17:
This site's exposition
there was lifted up a talent of lead
on Zechariah 5:7-8
A woman sits inside the ephah and is named plainly, this is wickedness, and the angel forces her back down and seals the opening with a heavy weight of lead. The picture is restraint rather than release, wickedness pressed under and shut in rather than let loose on the land, which Pusey reads as judgment holding sin down until its removal is complete in the verses following.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 5 seq.) And an angel came out who spoke to me, and said to me: Lift up your eyes and see what is coming. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a departing vessel; and he said: This is their eye in all the land. And behold, a weight of lead was being carried, and behold, a woman sitting in the middle of the vessel. And he said: This is wickedness, and he threw her into the middle of the vessel, and he put a lead mass in her mouth.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
This - This woman represents the wickedness of the Jews. He cast it - The angel cast down this woman. On the mouth - And so shut her up, to suffer the punishment of all her sins.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And cast her into the midst of the Ephah - As yet then the measure was not full. Ribera: “She had the lower part within the Ephah, but the upper, especially the head, without. Though the Jews had slain the prophets and done many grievous things, the greatest sin of all remained to be done.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
wickedness--literally, "the wickedness": implying wickedness in its peculiar development. Compare "the man of sin," 2Th 2:3. cast it--that is, her, Wickedness, who had moved more freely while the heavy lid was partially lifted off. weight--literally, "stone," that is, round mass.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| זֹ֣את | zot | this [woman] | H2063 → | 603 times |
| הָרִשְׁעָ֔ה | harishah | [is] <the> wickedness | H7564 → | |
| וַיַּשְׁלֵ֥ךְ | vaiyashlekh | and he threw | H7993 → | 125 times |
| אֹתָ֖הּ | ʾotah | <obj.> her | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| תּ֣וֹךְ | tokh | [the] midst of | H8432 → | 418 times |
| הָֽאֵיפָ֑ה | haeifah | the ephah | H374 → | 40 times |
| וַיַּשְׁלֵ֛ךְ | vaiyashlekh | and he threw | H7993 → | 125 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֶ֥בֶן | ʾeven | [the] weight of | H68 → | 273 times |
| הָעֹפֶ֖רֶת | haoferet | <the> lead | H5777 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| פִּֽיהָ׃ ס | piha | mouth its | H6310 → | 498 times |
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙and he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
זֹ֣אתthis [woman]
zotH2063 →603 times
הָרִשְׁעָ֔ה[is] <the> wickedness
harishahH7564 →
וַיַּשְׁלֵ֥ךְand he threw
vaiyashlekhH7993 →125 times
אֹתָ֖הּ<obj.> her
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
תּ֣וֹךְ[the] midst of
tokhH8432 →418 times
הָֽאֵיפָ֑הthe ephah
haeifahH374 →40 times
וַיַּשְׁלֵ֛ךְand he threw
vaiyashlekhH7993 →125 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֶ֥בֶן[the] weight of
ʾevenH68 →273 times
הָעֹפֶ֖רֶת<the> lead
haoferetH5777 →
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
פִּֽיהָ׃ סmouth its
pihaH6310 →498 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 38:4For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
it leads to
- Psalms 40:12
For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
- Ezra 9:6
and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
- Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Lamentations 1:14
My transgressions are bound into a yoke, knit together by His hand; they are draped over my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has delivered me into the hands of those…
- 1 Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- Psalms 40:12
Through
Matthew 23:32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.
it leads to
- Genesis 15:16
In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
- Genesis 15:16
Through
Micah 6:11Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?
it leads to
- Hosea 12:7
A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.
- Hosea 12:7
Through
Zechariah 5:7And behold, the cover of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.
it leads to
- Revelation 17:1–18
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- Revelation 17:1–18
About Zechariah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.