Zechariah 5 · Verse 9

Zechariah 5:9

Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
Zechariah 5:9, King James Version

Zechariah 5:9 in other translations

BSBThen 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.
WEBThen I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women; and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky.
ASVThen lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven.
YLTAnd I lift up mine eyes, and see, and lo, two women are coming forth, and wind in their wings; and they have wings like wings of the stork, and they lift up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.
DARBYAnd I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.
BBEAnd lifting up my eyes I saw two women coming out, and the wind was in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they took the ephah, lifting it up between earth and heaven.
WebsterThen I lifted up my eyes, and looked and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

What does Zechariah 5:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
9. The agents to carry away the "woman" are, consistently with the image, "women." God makes the wicked themselves the agents of punishing and removing wickedness. "Two" are employed, as one is not enough to carry such a load [Maurer]. Or, the Assyrians and Babylonians, who carried away idolatry in the persons, respectively, of Israel and Judah [Henderson]. As two "anointed ones" (Zec 4:14) stand by the Lord as His ministers, so two winged women execute His purpose here in removing the embodiment of "wickedness": answering to the "mystery of iniquity" (the Septuagint here in Zechariah uses the same words as Paul and "the man of sin," whom the Lord shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming, 2Th 2:3, 7, 8). Their "wings" express velocity. The "stork" has long and wide wings, for which reason it is specified; also it is a migratory bird. The "wind" helps the rapid motion of the wings. The being "lifted up between heaven and earth" implies open execution of the judgment before the eyes of all. As the "woman" here is removed to Babylon as her own dwelling, so the woman in the Apocalypse of St. John is Babylon (Re 17:3-5).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 There came out two women - As the one woman represented the impiety of the Jewish nation; so these two women who were to carry the ephah, in which the woman Iniquity was shut up, under the weight of a talent of lead, may mean the desperate Unbelief of the Jews in rejecting the Messiah; and that Impiety, or universal corruption of manners, which was the consequence of their unbelief, and brought down the wrath of God upon them. The strong wings, like those of a stork, may point out the power and swiftness with which Judea was carried on to fill up the measure of her iniquity, and to meet the punishment which she deserved. Between the earth and the heaven - Sins against God and Man, sins which heaven and earth contemplated with horror. Or the Babylonians and Romans may be intended by the two women who carried the Jewish ephah to its final punishment. The Chaldeans ruined Judea before the advent of our Lord; the Romans, shortly after.

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 5:9 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.

וָאֶשָּׂ֨אva.'e.Sa'and I lifted upH5375
עֵינַ֜י'ei.Naieyes myH5869
וָאֵ֗רֶאva.'E.re'and I sawH7200
וְהִנֵּה֩ve.hi.Nehand there!H2009
שְׁתַּ֨יִםshe.Ta.yimtwoH8147
נָשִׁ֤יםna.ShimwomenH802
יֽוֹצְאוֹת֙yotz.'Ot[were] going forthH3318
וְר֣וּחַve.Ru.achand a windH7307
בְּכַנְפֵיהֶ֔םbe.khan.fei.Hem[was] in wings theirH3671
וְלָהֵ֥נָּהve.la.He.nahand [belonged] to them
כְנָפַ֖יִםkhe.na.Fa.yimwingsH3671
כְּכַנְפֵ֣יke.khan.Feilike [the] wings ofH3671
הַחֲסִידָ֑הha.cha.si.Dah<the> storkH2624
וַתִּשֶּׂ֙אנָה֙va.ti.Se.nahand they lifted upH5375
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הָ֣אֵיפָ֔הha.'ei.Fahthe ephahH374
בֵּ֥יןbeinbetweenH996
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retzthe earthH776
וּבֵ֥יןu.Veinand betweenH996
הַשָּׁמָֽיִם\׃ha.sha.Ma.yimthe heavensH8064

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

Cross references for Zechariah 5:9

  • Hosea 8:1

    Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

  • Daniel 9:26-27

    And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

  • Deuteronomy 28:49

    The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;

  • Leviticus 11:19

    And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

  • Matthew 24:28

    For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
for.
De 28:49; Da 9:26,27; Ho 8:1; Mt 24:28

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

Context

  • Zechariah 5:8

    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.

  • Zechariah 5:9

    Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

  • Zechariah 5:10

    Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

Read all of Zechariah 5

Zechariah 5:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Alcé luego mis ojos, y miré, y he aquí dos mujeres que salían, y traían viento en sus alas, y tenían alas como de cigüeña, y alzaron el epha entre la tierra y los cielos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et je levai mes yeux, et je vis; et voici, deux femmes sortirent, et le vent était dans leurs ailes, et elles avaient des ailes comme des ailes de cigogne, et elles soulevèrent l’épha entre la terre et les cieux.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und ich hob meine Augen auf und sah: und siehe, da kamen zwei Weiber hervor, und Wind war in ihren Flügeln, und sie hatten Flügel wie die Flügel des Storches; und sie hoben das Epha empor zwischen Erde und Himmel.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et levavi oculos meos, et vidi: et ecce duæ mulieres egredientes: et spiritus in alis earum, et habebant alas quasi alas milvi, et levaverunt amphoram inter terram et cælum.