TORAH
FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
NEVI'IM
PROPHETS
KETUVIM
WRITINGS
Zechariah - Chapter 5
Translation and Transliteration of
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1I looked up again, and I saw a flying scroll.
אוָאָשׁוּב וָאֶשָּׂא עֵינַי וָאֶרְאֶה וְהִנֵּה מְגִלָּה עָפָה׃
2“What do you see?” he asked. And I replied, “A flying scroll, twenty amot long and ten amot wide.”
בוַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי מָה אַתָּה רֹאֶה וָאֹמַר אֲנִי רֹאֶה מְגִלָּה עָפָה אָרְכָּהּ עֶשְׂרִים בָּאַמָּה וְרָחְבָּהּ עֶשֶׂר בָּאַמָּה׃
3“That,” he explained to me, “is the curse which goes out over the whole land. For everyone who has stolen, as is forbidden on one side [of the scroll], has gone unpunished; and everyone who has sworn [falsely], as is forbidden on the other side of it, has gone unpunished.
גוַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי זֹאת הָאָלָה הַיּוֹצֵאת עַל־פְּנֵי כָל־הָאָרֶץ כִּי כָל־הַגֹּנֵב מִזֶּה כָּמוֹהָ נִקָּה וְכָל־הַנִּשְׁבָּע מִזֶּה כָּמוֹהָ נִקָּה׃
4[But] I have sent it forth—declares the lord of Hosts—and [the curse] shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name, and it shall lodge inside their houses and shall consume them to the last timber and stone.”
דהוֹצֵאתִיהָ נְאֻם יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת וּבָאָה אֶל־בֵּית הַגַּנָּב וְאֶל־בֵּית הַנִּשְׁבָּע בִּשְׁמִי לַשָּׁקֶר וְלָנֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ וְכִלַּתּוּ וְאֶת־עֵצָיו וְאֶת־אֲבָנָיו׃
5Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said, “Now look up and note this other object that is approaching.”
הוַיֵּצֵא הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי שָׂא נָא עֵינֶיךָ וּרְאֵה מָה הַיּוֹצֵאת הַזֹּאת׃
6I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “This tub that is approaching—this,” said he, “is their eye in all the land.”
ווָאֹמַר מַה־הִיא וַיֹּאמֶר זֹאת הָאֵיפָה הַיּוֹצֵאת וַיֹּאמֶר זֹאת עֵינָם בְּכָל־הָאָרֶץ׃
7And behold, a disk of lead was lifted, revealing a woman seated inside the tub.
זוְהִנֵּה כִּכַּר עֹפֶרֶת נִשֵּׂאת וְזֹאת אִשָּׁה אַחַת יוֹשֶׁבֶת בְּתוֹךְ הָאֵיפָה׃
8“That,” he said, “is Wickedness”; and, thrusting her down into the tub, he pressed the leaden weight into its mouth.
חוַיֹּאמֶר זֹאת הָרִשְׁעָה וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ אֹתָהּ אֶל־תּוֹךְ הָאֵיפָה וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ אֶת־אֶבֶן הָעֹפֶרֶת אֶל־פִּיהָ׃
9I looked up again and saw two women come soaring with the wind in their wings—they had wings like those of a stork—and carry off the tub between earth and sky.
va-e-SA ay-NAI va-AY-re v'-hi-NAY sh'-TA-yim na-SHEEM yo-tz'-OT v'-RU-akh b'-khan-fay-HEM v'-la-HAY-nah kh'-na-FA-yim k'-khan-FAY ha-kha-see-DAH va-ti-SE-nah et HA-ay-FAH BAYN ha-A-retz u-VAYN ha-sha-MA-yim
טוָאֶשָּׂא עֵינַי וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה שְׁתַּיִם נָשִׁים יוֹצְאוֹת וְרוּחַ בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם וְלָהֵנָּה כְנָפַיִם כְּכַנְפֵי הַחֲסִידָה וַתִּשֶּׂאנָה אֶת־הָאֵיפָה בֵּין הָאָרֶץ וּבֵין הַשָּׁמָיִם׃
5:9 And saw two women come soaring with the wind
Zecharya has a fantastic vision of a woman, who personifies evil, being thrust into a basket that is sealed with lead. She is then carried by two other women, portrayed as angels, who expel her from the Beit Hamikdash and carry her away to Babylonia. Some take this to symbolize the removal of the Babylonian cult, which worshipped the goddess Ishtar, from the Land of Israel. The Talmud (Kiddushin 49b) symbolically identifies these two women as pride and hypocrisy, who, together with evil, find themselves exiled from the Holy Land and sent to Babylonia.
10“Where are they taking the tub?” I asked the angel who talked with me.
יוָאֹמַר אֶל־הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי אָנָה הֵמָּה מוֹלִכוֹת אֶת־הָאֵיפָה׃
11And he answered, “To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar; [a stand] shall be erected for it, and it shall be set down there upon the stand.”
יאוַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי לִבְנוֹת־לָה בַיִת בְּאֶרֶץ שִׁנְעָר וְהוּכַן וְהֻנִּיחָה שָּׁם עַל־מְכֻנָתָהּ׃
