Zechariah 5:7

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

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
up	נִשֵּׂ֑את ni.Set	H5375	to lift · verb, niphal active participle, feminine singular absolute
talent	כִּכַּ֥ר ki.Kar	H3603	a circle · noun, common feminine singular construct
lead	עֹפֶ֖רֶת 'o.Fe.ret	H5777	lead (from its dusty color) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
a	אַחַ֔ת 'a.Chat	H259	properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
woman	אִשָּׁ֣ה 'i.Shah	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular absolute
sitteth	יוֹשֶׁ֖בֶת yo.She.vet	H3427	properly · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
midst	בְּת֥וֹךְ be.Tokh	H8432	a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
ephah	הָאֵיפָֽה ha.'ei.Fah	H374	an ephah or measure for grain · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Revelation 17:1-18 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the…
Ezekiel 23:1-49 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Jeremiah 3:1-2 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be…
Isaiah 13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
Isaiah 15:1 The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, a…
Isaiah 22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect…
Ezekiel 16:1-63 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Hosea 1:1-3 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the d…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Zechariah 5:5–end

The foregoing vision was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood; and some think that the scope of it is to foretel the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation and the dispersion of the Jews, when, by crucifying Christ and persecuting his gospel, they should have filled up the measure of their iniquities; therefore it is industriously set out in obscure figures and expressions, "lest the plain denunciation of the second overthrow of temple and state might discourage them too much from going forward in the present restoration of both." So Mr. Pemble. The prophet was contemplating the power and terror of the curse which consumes the houses of thieve…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Zechariah 5:7

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, Pro 2:16; Pro 5:3-4. In personifying abstract terms, the feminine is used, as the idea of giving birth to life is associated with woman.

Adam Clarke on Zechariah 5:6

This is an ephah that goeth forth - This, among the Jews, was the ordinary measure of grain. The woman in the ephah is supposed to represent Judea, which shall be visited for its sins; the talent of lead on the ephah, within which the woman was enclosed, the wrath of God, bending down this culprit nation, in the measure of its sins; for the angel said, "This is wickedness;" that is, the woman represents the mass of iniquity of this nation.

John Gill on Zechariah 5:7

And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead,.... By the angel; since he is afterwards said to cast it upon the mouth of the "ephah". A cicar, or talent of silver, with the Jews, was equal to three thousand shekels, as may be gathered from Exodus 38:24 and weighed a hundred and twenty five pounds (a); or, as others, a hundred and twenty (b), and, according to the more exact account of Dr. Arbuthnot, a hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, one pennyweight, and ten and two seventh grains of our Troy weight. A Babylonish talent, according to Aelianus (c), weighed seventy two Attic pounds; and an Attic mina, or pound, weighed a hundred drachmas; so that it was of the weight of seven thou…

The Church Fathers

For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way "fly like clouds," as Isaiah says, "and as doves with their young ones"; but sin is a heavy affair, "sitting," as another of the prophets says, "upon a talent of lead." If, however, this reading of the history appears to any forced and inapplicable, and the miracle at the Red Sea does not present itself to him as written for our profit, let him listen to the Apostle: "Now all these things happened unto them for types, and they are written for our admonition."
— Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity 18

The deserts of each one of us are suspended in the balance, which a little weight either of good works or of degenerate conduct sways this way or that; if the evil preponderate, woe is me! if the good, pardon is at hand. For no man is free from sin; but where good preponderates, the evil flies up, is overshadowed, and covered. Wherefore in the Day of judgement our works will either succour us, or will sink us into the deep, weighed down as with a millstone. For iniquity is heavy, supported as by a talent of lead; avarice is intolerable, and all pride is foul dishonesty. Wherefore exhort the people of God to trust rather in the Lord, to abound in the riches of simplicity, wherein they may walk without snare and without hindrance.
— Ambrose of Milan, Letter 2

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Zechariah 5:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Zechariah 5:5–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Zechariah 5:7

Adam Clarke on Zechariah 5:6

John Gill on Zechariah 5:7

The Church Fathers

Zechariah 5:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Zechariah 5:5–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Zechariah 5:7

Adam Clarke on Zechariah 5:6

John Gill on Zechariah 5:7

The Church Fathers

John Calvin on Zechariah 5:5-8

Keil & Delitzsch on Zechariah 5:5-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Zechariah 5:7-8

Rashi on Zechariah 5:7