Zechariah 5:7 Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman!

◄ Zechariah 5:7 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman!

English Standard Version
And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket!

New American Standard Bible
(and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah."

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

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket."

International Standard Version
Look, a round lead cover was being lifted, and there was one woman seated inside the basket!

American Standard Version
(and, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.

Darby Bible Translation
And behold, there was lifted up a round plate of lead; and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

Young's Literal Translation
And lo, a cake of lead lifted up; and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.'

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

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 the sinner as a weight of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they filled the measure of their iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting his gospel. Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it, carried away to some far country. This intimates that the Jews should be hurried out of their own land, and forced to dwell in far countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah shall be firmly placed, and their sufferings shall continue far longer than in their late captivity. Blindness is happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief. Let sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; for the more they multiply crimes, the faster the measure fills.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

7. lifted up—The cover is lifted off the ephah to let the prophet see the female personification of "wickedness" within, about to be removed from Judea. The cover being "of lead," implies that the "woman" cannot escape from the ponderous load which presses her down.

talent—literally, "a round piece": hence a talent, a weight of one hundred twenty-five pounds troy.

woman—for comparison of "wickedness" to a woman, Pr 2:16; 5:3, 4. In personifying abstract terms, the feminine is used, as the idea of giving birth to life is associated with woman.