Zechariah 5–6: A Priest on His Throne": The Scroll, the Basket, and the Crown

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.”

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.”

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 is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity 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.

“Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.

“To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”

And again I lifted up my eyes and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses—all of them strong.

So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

And the angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

As the strong horses went out, they were eager to go and patrol the earth; and the LORD said, “Go and patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

Then the LORD summoned me and said, “Behold, those going to the land of the north have given rest to my Spirit in the land of the north.”

The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, “Take an offering from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon—and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. Take silver and gold, make an ornate crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak.

And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. Yes, he will build the temple of the LORD; he will be clothed in splendor and will sit on his throne and rule. And he will be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two.’

The crown will reside in the temple of the LORD as a memorial to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and the gracious son of Zephaniah. Even those far away will come and build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.”