Catholic Commentary on Zechariah 5

“This is the curse that is going out over the whole land.” (Zechariah 5:3)

The Flying Scroll and the Woman in a Basket

Zechariah sees a flying scroll, enormous: thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; every thief will be banished, and everyone who swears falsely will be banished. The scroll will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones. Then Zechariah sees a woman sitting inside a measuring basket; the angel says she represents wickedness. A lead cover is placed on it; two women with storks' wings lift the basket and carry it to the land of Babylonia, where a house is built for it.

The Catechism draws from the removal of wickedness to its own house in Babylon the principle that sin ultimately destroys the structure that harbours it: the house consumed by the flying scroll has been destroyed by what it housed (CCC 1865).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the scroll enters the house of the thief and the liar and remains there until the house is destroyed. Sin is not an external force that attacks from outside; it is a resident that consumes from within. The house that harbours theft and false oaths is destroyed by what it shelters. Do not give wickedness a room. It will not stay a tenant; it will become the owner and consume the house.

Prayer

Lord God, let the wickedness in our houses be carried away to its own place. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

5
The Vision of the Flying Scroll
Again I lifted up my eyes and saw before me a flying scroll.
 
“What do you see?” asked the angel.
 
“I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.* 5:2 The flying scroll was approximately 30 feet long and 15 feet wide (9.1 meters long and 4.6 meters wide).
 
Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed. I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”
The Vision of the Woman in a Basket
 
Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”
 
“What is it?” I asked.
 
And he replied, “A measuring basket 5:6 Or An ephah is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity 5:6 One Hebrew manuscript, LXX, and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts their appearance or (literally) their eye in all the land.”
 
And behold, the cover of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.
 
“This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening.
 
Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women approaching, with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
 
10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.
 
11 “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,§ 5:11 That is, Babylonia” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”

*5:2 5:2 The flying scroll was approximately 30 feet long and 15 feet wide (9.1 meters long and 4.6 meters wide).

5:6 5:6 Or An ephah

5:6 5:6 One Hebrew manuscript, LXX, and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts their appearance or (literally) their eye

§5:11 5:11 That is, Babylonia