Zechariah 5:3

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Then he said to me, This is the curse which goes out over the face of all the land: for long enough has every thief gone without punishment, and long enough has every taker of false oaths gone without punishment.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלַ֔י זֹ֚את הָֽאָלָ֔ה הַיּוֹצֵ֖את עַל־פְּנֵ֣י כָל־הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּ֣י כָל־הַגֹּנֵ֗ב מִזֶּה֙ כָּמ֣וֹהָ נִקָּ֔ה וְכָל־הַ֨נִּשְׁבָּ֔ע מִזֶּ֖ה כָּמ֥וֹהָ נִקָּֽה׃

Transliteration

And wayyōʾmer to me, This zōʾṯ the hāʾālāh the hayyôṣēʾṯ over ʿal-pənê all-the hāʾāreṣ; for all-the haggōnēḇ from this mizzeh according to it kāmôhā niqqāh, and all-the hannišbāʿ from this mizzeh according to it kāmôhā niqqāh

Grammar Details

• *wayyōʾmer*: waw consecutive + qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - and he said
• *zōʾṯ*: demonstrative pronoun, feminine singular - this
• *hāʾālāh*: definite article + noun, feminine singular - the curse/oath
• *hayyôṣēʾṯ*: definite article + qal participle, feminine singular - the one going out
• *ʿal-pənê*: preposition + construct noun, masculine plural - over the face of
• *hāʾāreṣ*: definite article + noun, feminine singular - the earth/land
• *haggōnēḇ*: definite article + qal participle, masculine singular - the one stealing
• *mizzeh*: preposition + demonstrative pronoun - from this
• *kāmôhā*: preposition + 3rd person feminine singular suffix - like it
• *niqqāh*: niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular - is cleansed/acquitted/emptied
• *hannišbāʿ*: definite article + niphal participle, masculine singular - the one swearing

Word Meanings

• *ʾālāh*: curse/oath/imprecation
• *yôṣēʾṯ*: going out/forth/proceeding
• *niqqāh*: cleansed/acquitted/cut off/emptied
• *gōnēḇ*: stealing/thief
• *nišbāʿ*: swearing/taking an oath

Referenced Verses

• Exod 20:15 : 15 Do not take the property of another.
• Isa 24:6 : 6 For this cause the earth is given up to the curse, and those in it are judged as sinners: for this cause those living on the earth are burned up, and the rest are small in number.
• Isa 43:28 : 28 Your chiefs have made my holy place unclean, so I have made Jacob a curse, and Israel a thing of shame.
• Isa 48:1 : 1 Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly and not in good faith.
• Jer 5:2 : 2 And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false.
• Jer 26:6 : 6 Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this town a curse to all the nations of the earth.
• Lev 19:12 : 12 And do not take an oath in my name falsely, putting shame on the name of your God: I am the Lord.
• Mal 4:6 : 6 And by him the hearts of fathers will be turned to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers; for fear that I may come and put the earth under a curse.
• Zech 5:4 : 4 And I will send it out, says the Lord of armies, and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of him who takes a false oath by my name: and it will be in his house, causing its complete destruction, with its woodwork and its stones.
• Zech 8:17 : 17 Let no one have any evil thought in his heart against his neighbour; and have no love for false oaths: for all these things are hated by me, says the Lord.
• Mal 3:5 : 5 And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.
• Mal 3:8-9 : 8 Will a man keep back from God what is right? But you have kept back what is mine. But you say, What have we kept back from you? Tenths and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse; for you have kept back from me what is mine, even all this nation. 10 Let your tenths come into the store-house so that there may be food in my house, and put me to the test by doing so, says the Lord of armies, and see if I do not make the windows of heaven open and send down such a blessing on you that there is no room for it.
• Matt 5:33-37 : 33 Again, you have knowledge that it was said in old times, Do not take false oaths, but give effect to your oaths to the Lord: 34 But I say to you, Take no oaths at all: not by the heaven, because it is the seat of God; 35 Or by the earth, because it is the resting-place for his foot; or by Jerusalem, because it is the town of the great King. 36 You may not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. 37 But let your words be simply, Yes or No: and whatever is more than these is of the Evil One.
• Matt 23:16-22 : 16 A curse is on you, blind guides, who say, Whoever takes an oath by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gold of the Temple, he is responsible. 17 You foolish ones and blind: which is greater, the gold, or the Temple which makes the gold holy? 18 And, Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the offering which is on it, he is responsible. 19 You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy? 20 He, then, who takes an oath by the altar, takes it by the altar and by all things on it. 21 And he who takes an oath by the Temple, takes it by the Temple and by him whose house it is. 22 And he who takes an oath by heaven, takes it by the seat of God, and by him who is seated on it.
• Matt 25:41 : 41 Then will he say to those on the left, Go from me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire which is ready for the Evil One and his angels:
• Luke 21:35 : 35 For so it will come on all those who are living on the face of all the earth.
• 1 Cor 6:7-9 : 7 More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss? 8 So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property. 9 Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,
• Gal 3:10-13 : 10 For all who are of the works of the law are under a curse: because it is said in the Writings, A curse is on everyone who does not keep on doing all the things which are ordered in the book of the law. 11 Now that no man gets righteousness by the law in the eyes of God, is clear; because, The upright will be living by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith; but, He who does them will have life by them. 13 Christ has made us free from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: because it is said in the Writings, A curse on everyone who is put to death by hanging on a tree:
• Eph 4:28 : 28 Let him who was a thief be so no longer, but let him do good work with his hands, so that he may have something to give to him who is in need.
• 1 Tim 1:9 : 9 With the knowledge that the law is made, not for the upright man, but for those who have no respect for law and order, for evil men and sinners, for the unholy and those who have no religion, for those who put their fathers or mothers to death, for takers of life,
• Heb 6:6-8 : 6 And then let themselves be turned away, it is not possible for their hearts to be made new a second time; because they themselves put the Son of God on the cross again, openly shaming him. 7 For a land, drinking in the frequent rain and producing good plants for those for whom it is worked, has a blessing from God: 8 But if it sends up thorns and evil plants, it is of no use and is ready to be cursed; its only end is to be burned.
• Jas 5:4 : 4 See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.
• Jas 5:12 : 12 But most of all, my brothers, do not take oaths, not by the heaven, or by the earth, or by any other thing: but let your Yes be Yes, and your No be No: so that you may not be judged.
• Rev 21:8 : 8 But those who are full of fear and without faith, the unclean and takers of life, those who do the sins of the flesh, and those who make use of evil powers or who give worship to images, and all those who are false, will have their part in the sea of ever-burning fire which is the second death.
• Rev 22:15 : 15 Outside are the dogs, and those who make use of evil powers, those who make themselves unclean, and the takers of life, and those who give worship to images, and everyone whose delight is in what is false.
• Deut 11:28-29 : 28 And the curse if you do not give ear to the orders of the Lord your God, but let yourselves be turned from the way which I have put before you this day, and go after other gods which are not yours. 29 And when the Lord your God has taken you into the land of your heritage, you are to put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
• Deut 27:15-26 : 15 Cursed is the man who makes any image of wood or stone or metal, disgusting to the Lord, the work of man's hands, and puts it up in secret. And let all the people say, So be it. 16 Cursed is he who does not give honour to his father or mother. And let all the people say, So be it. 17 Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's landmark from its place. And let all the people say, So be it. 18 Cursed is he by whom the blind are turned out of the way. And let all the people say, So be it. 19 Cursed is he who gives a wrong decision in the cause of a man from a strange land, or of one without a father, or of a widow. And let all the people say, So be it. 20 Cursed is he who has sex relations with his father's wife, for he has put shame on his father. And let all the people say, So be it. 21 Cursed is he who has sex relations with any sort of beast. And let all the people say, So be it. 22 Cursed is he who has sex relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother. And let all the people say, So be it. 23 Cursed is he who has sex relations with his mother-in-law. And let all the people say, So be it. 24 Cursed is he who takes his neighbour's life secretly. And let all the people say, So be it. 25 Cursed is he who for a reward puts to death one who has done no wrong. And let all the people say, So be it. 26 Cursed is he who does not take this law to heart to do it. And let all the people say, So be it.
• Deut 28:15-68 : 15 But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to do all his orders and his laws which I give you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the town and cursed in the field. 17 A curse will be on your basket and on your bread-basin. 18 A curse will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 20 The Lord will send on you cursing and trouble and punishment in everything to which you put your hand, till sudden destruction overtakes you; because of your evil ways in which you have been false to me. 21 The Lord will send disease after disease on you, till you have been cut off by death from the land to which you are going. 22 The Lord will send wasting disease, and burning pain, and flaming heat against you, keeping back the rain till your land is waste and dead; so will it be till your destruction is complete. 23 And the heaven over your heads will be brass, and the earth under you hard as iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust, sending it down on you from heaven till your destruction is complete. 25 The Lord will let you be overcome by your haters: you will go out against them one way, and you will go in flight before them seven ways: you will be the cause of fear among all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your bodies will be meat for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to send them away. 27 The Lord will send on you the disease of Egypt, and other sorts of skin diseases which nothing will make well. 28 He will make your minds diseased, and your eyes blind, and your hearts wasted with fear: 29 You will go feeling your way when the sun is high, like a blind man for whom all is dark, and nothing will go well for you: you will be crushed and made poor for ever, and you will have no saviour. 30 You will take a wife, but another man will have the use of her: the house which your hands have made will never be your resting-place: you will make a vine-garden, and never take the fruit of it. 31 Your ox will be put to death before your eyes, but its flesh will not be your food: your ass will be violently taken away before your face, and will not be given back to you: your sheep will be given to your haters, and there will be no saviour for you. 32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will be wasted away with looking and weeping for them all the day: and you will have no power to do anything. 33 The fruit of your land and all the work of your hands will be food for a nation which is strange to you and to your fathers; you will only be crushed down and kept under for ever: 34 So that the things which your eyes have to see will send you out of your minds. 35 The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well. 36 And you, and the king whom you have put over you, will the Lord take away to a nation strange to you and to your fathers; there you will be servants to other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you will become a wonder and a name of shame among all the nations where the Lord will take you. 38 You will take much seed out into the field, and get little in; for the locust will get it. 39 You will put in vines and take care of them, but you will get no wine or grapes from them; for they will be food for worms. 40 Your land will be full of olive-trees, but there will be no oil for the comfort of your body; for your olive-tree will give no fruit. 41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land. 42 All your trees and the fruit of your land will be the locust's. 43 The man from a strange land who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower. 44 He will let you have his wealth at interest, and will have no need of yours: he will be the head and you the tail. 45 And all these curses will come after you and overtake you, till your destruction is complete; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, or keep his laws and his orders which he gave you: 46 These things will come on you and on your seed, to be a sign and a wonder for ever; 47 Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things; 48 For this cause you will become servants to those whom the Lord your God will send against you, without food and drink and clothing, and in need of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck till he has put an end to you. 49 The Lord will send a nation against you from the farthest ends of the earth, coming with the flight of an eagle; a nation whose language is strange to you; 50 A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young: 51 He will take the fruit of your cattle and of your land till death puts an end to you: he will let you have nothing of your grain or wine or oil or any of the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, till he has made your destruction complete. 52 Your towns will be shut in by his armies, till your high walls, in which you put your faith, have come down: his armies will be round your towns, through all your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 And your food will be the fruit of your body, the flesh of the sons and daughters which the Lord your God has given you; because of your bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters. 54 That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living; 55 And will not give to any of them the flesh of his children which will be his food because he has no other; in the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns. 56 The most soft and delicate of your women, who would not so much as put her foot on the earth, so delicate is she, will be hard-hearted to her husband and to her son and to her daughter; 57 And to her baby newly come to birth, and to the children of her body; for having no other food, she will make a meal of them secretly, because of her bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns. 58 If you will not take care to do all the words of this law, recorded in this book, honouring that name of glory and of fear, THE LORD YOUR GOD; 59 Then the Lord your God will make your punishment, and the punishment of your seed, a thing to be wondered at; great punishments and cruel diseases stretching on through long years. 60 He will send on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which were a cause of fear to you, and they will take you in their grip. 61 And all the diseases and the pains not recorded in the book of this law will the Lord send on you till your destruction is complete. 62 And you will become a very small band, though your numbers were like the stars of heaven; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God. 63 And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and increasing you, so the Lord will take pleasure in cutting you off and causing your destruction, and you will be uprooted from the land which you are about to take as your heritage. 64 And the Lord will send you wandering among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other: there you will be servants to other gods, of wood and stone, gods of which you and your fathers had no knowledge. 65 And even among these nations there will be no peace for you, and no rest for your feet: but the Lord will give you there a shaking heart and wasting eyes and weariness of soul: 66 Your very life will be hanging in doubt before you, and day and night will be dark with fears, and nothing in life will be certain: 67 In the morning you will say, If only it was evening! And at evening you will say, If only morning would come! Because of the fear in your hearts and the things which your eyes will see. 68 And the Lord will take you back to Egypt again in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You will never see it again: there you will be offering yourselves as men-servants and women-servants to your haters for a price, and no man will take you.
• Deut 29:19-28 : 19 If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him: 20 The Lord will have no mercy on him, but the wrath of the Lord will be burning against that man, and all the curses recorded in this book will be waiting for him, and the Lord will take away his name completely from the earth. 21 He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law. 22 And future generations, your children coming after you, and travellers from far countries, will say, when they see the punishments of that land and the diseases which the Lord has sent on it; 23 And that all the land is a salt and smoking waste, not planted or giving fruit or clothed with grass, but wasted like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, on which the Lord sent destruction in the heat of his wrath: 24 Truly all the nations will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land? what is the reason for this great and burning wrath? 25 Then men will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he took them out of the land of Egypt: 26 And they went after other gods and gave them worship, gods who were strange to them, and whom he had not given them: 27 And so the wrath of the Lord was moved against this land, to send on it all the curse recorded in this book: 28 Rooting them out of their land, in the heat of his wrath and passion, and driving them out into another land, as at this day.
• Ps 109:17-20 : 17 As he took pleasure in cursing, so let it come on him; and as he had no delight in blessing, let it be far from him. 18 He put on cursing like a robe, and it has come into his body like water, and into his bones like oil. 19 Let it be to him as a robe which he puts on, let it be like a band which is round him at all times. 20 Let this be the reward given to my haters from the Lord, and to those who say evil of my soul.
• Prov 3:33 : 33 The curse of the Lord is on the house of the evil-doer, but his blessing is on the tent of the upright.
• Prov 29:24 : 24 A man who takes part with a thief has hate for his soul; he is put under oath, but says nothing.
• Prov 30:9 : 9 For fear that if I am full, I may be false to you and say, Who is the Lord? or if I am poor, I may become a thief, using the name of my God wrongly.
• Ezek 17:13-16 : 13 And he took one of the sons of the king and made an agreement with him; and he put him under an oath, and took away the great men of the land: 14 So that the kingdom might be made low with no power of lifting itself up, but might keep his agreement to be his servants. 15 But he went against his authority in sending representatives to Egypt to get from them horses and a great army. Will he do well? will he be safe who does such things? if the agreement is broken will he be safe? 16 By my life, says the Lord, truly in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he put on one side and let his agreement with him be broken, even in Babylon he will come to his death.
• Dan 9:11 : 11 And all Israel have been sinners against your law, turning away so as not to give ear to your voice: and the curse has been let loose on us, and the oath recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have done evil against him.
• Hos 4:2 : 2 There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood.
• Jer 7:9 : 9 Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you;
• Jer 23:10 : 10 For the land is full of men who are untrue to their wives; because of the curse the land is full of grief; the green fields of the waste land have become dry; and they are quick to do evil, their strength is for what is not right.