Zechariah 5 · Verse 6

Zechariah 5:6

And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
Zechariah 5:6, King James Version

Zechariah 5:6 in other translations

BSB“What is it?” I asked. And he replied, “A measuring basket is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”
WEBI said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land—
ASVAnd I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land
YLTAnd I say, ‘What is it?' And he saith, ‘This--the ephah that is coming forth.' And he saith, ‘This is their aspect in all the land.
DARBYAnd I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth. And he said, This is their resemblance in all the land.
BBEAnd I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah which is going out. And he said further, This is their evil-doing in all the land.
WebsterAnd I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.

What does Zechariah 5:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. This is their resemblance--literally, "eye" (compare Eze 1:4, 5, 16). Hengstenberg translates, "Their (the people's) eye" was all directed to evil. But English Version is better. "This is the appearance (that is, an image) of the Jews in all the land" (not as English Version, "in all the earth"), that is, of the wicked Jews. This--Here used of what was within the ephah, not the ephah itself.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 This is an ephah that goeth forth - This, among the Jews, was the ordinary measure of grain. The woman in the ephah is supposed to represent Judea, which shall be visited for its sins; the talent of lead on the ephah, within which the woman was enclosed, the wrath of God, bending down this culprit nation, in the measure of its sins; for the angel said, "This is wickedness;" that is, the woman represents the mass of iniquity of this nation.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Zechariah 5:5-11

In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon…

Read the full comment on Zechariah 5:5-11 →

Zechariah 5:6 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וָאֹמַ֖רva.'o.Marand I saidH559
מַה\־mah-what?H4100
הִ֑יאHi'[is] itH1931
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרvai.Yo.merand he saidH559
זֹ֤אתzotthisH2063
הָֽאֵיפָה֙ha.'ei.Fah[is] the ephahH374
הַיּוֹצֵ֔אתhai.yo.Tzetwhich is going forthH3318
וַיֹּ֕אמֶרvai.Yo.merand he saidH559
זֹ֥אתzotthisH2063
עֵינָ֖ם'ei.Nam[is] appearance theirH5869
בְּכָל\־be.kholin allH3605
הָאָֽרֶץ\׃ha.'A.retzthe landH776

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Zechariah 5:6

  • Amos 8:5

    Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

  • Ezekiel 44:10-11

    And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
This is an ephah."The meaning of this vision," says Archbishop Newcome, "seems to be, that the Babylonish captivity had happened on account of the wickedness of the Jews, and that a like dispersion would befall them if they relapsed into like crimes." The woman who sat in the {ephah} was an emblem of the Jewish nation; the casting the weight of lead on the mouth of the {ephah} seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they had filled up the measure of their iniquities by crucifying the Messiah; the "two women, with wings like a stork, and the wind in their wings," seem emblematical of the Roman armies and the rapidity of their conquests; and their lifting up the {ephah} and carrying it through the air, to build it a house in Shinar or Babylon, where it was fixed on its own basis, represents the taking of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews, and the long continuance of that calamity, as a just punishment of their unbelief.
Eze 44:10,11; Am 8:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Zechariah 5:5

    Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.

  • Zechariah 5:6

    And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.

  • Zechariah 5:7

    And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

Read all of Zechariah 5

Zechariah 5:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y dije: ¿Qué es? Y él dijo: Este es un epha que sale. Además dijo: Este es el ojo de ellos en toda la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et je dis: Qu’est-ce? Et il dit: C’est l’épha qui sort. Et il dit: C’est ici leur aspect dans toute la terre.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und ich sprach: Was ist es? Und er sprach: Dies ist ein Epha, das hervorkommt; und er sprach: Solches ist ihr Aussehen im ganzen Lande.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et dixi: Quidnam est? Et ait: Hæc est amphora egrediens. Et dixit: Hæc est oculus eorum in universa terra.