Zechariah 5:6

I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain ¹  that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ ²  throughout all the earth.”

I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "It is a measuring basket." And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land."

I said, "What is it?" And he said, "This is the ephah going forth." Again he said, "This is their appearance in all the land

"What is it?" I asked. He replied, "It is a basket for measuring grain, and it is filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land."

I said, "What in the world is that?" He said, "This is a bushel basket on a journey. It holds the sin of everyone, everywhere."

And 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.

I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is a basket coming out." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land."

So I asked, "What is it?" And he said, "It is a basket that is going forth." He also said, "This is their resemblance throughout the earth:

I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain ¹  that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ ²  throughout all the earth.”

¹ tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.

² tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (’avonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (’enam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.