Zechariah 5:3

KJV1611 – Modern English

Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on this side; and everyone who swears shall be cut off according to it on that side.

📖 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

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Then he said to me, 'This is the curse that is going out over the whole land: for everyone who steals will be judged according to what is written on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be judged according to what is written on the other side.'

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Then said{H559} he unto me, This is the curse{H423} that goeth forth{H3318} over the face{H6440} of the whole land:{H776} for every one that stealeth{H1589} shall be cut off{H5352} on the one side according{H3644} to it; and every one that sweareth{H7650} shall be cut off{H5352} on the other side according{H3644} to it.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Then said{H559}{(H8799)} he unto me, This is the curse{H423} that goeth forth{H3318}{(H8802)} over the face{H6440} of the whole earth{H776}: for every one that stealeth{H1589}{(H8802)} shall be cut off{H5352}{(H8738)} as on this side according{H3644} to it; and every one that sweareth{H7650}{(H8737)} shall be cut off{H5352}{(H8738)} as on that side according{H3644} to it.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Then sayde he vnto me: This is the curse, yt goeth forth ouer the whole earth: For all theues shalbe iudged after this boke, & all swearers shalbe iudged acordinge to the same.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Then said he vnto me, This is the curse that goeth foorth ouer the whole earth: for euery one that stealeth, shalbe cut off aswell on this side, as on that: and euery one that sweareth, shall be cut off aswell on this side, as on that.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Then saide he vnto me, This is the curse that goeth foorth ouer the whole earth: for al theeues shalbe iudged after this booke, & al pariured persons shalbe iudged according to the same.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  Then said he unto me, This [is] the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off [as] on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off [as] on that side according to it.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  And he saith unto me, `This `is' the execration that is going forth over the face of all the land, for every one who is stealing, on the one side, according to it, hath been declared innocent, and every one who hath sworn, on the other side, according to it, hath been declared innocent.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it.

• 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.

• World English Bible (2000)

  Then he said to me, "This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  The speaker went on to say,“This is a curse traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals will be removed from the community; or on the other hand(according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.”

Referenced Verses

• Exod 20:15 : 15 You shall not steal.
• Isa 24:6 : 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
• Isa 43:28 : 28 Therefore, I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
• Isa 48:1 : 1 Listen to this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, and mention the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness.
• Jer 5:2 : 2 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
• Jer 26:6 : 6 Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
• Lev 19:12 : 12 And you shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
• Mal 4:6 : 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
• Zech 5:4 : 4 I will bring it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with its timber and its stones.
• Zech 8:17 : 17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, says the LORD.
• Mal 3:5 : 5 And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those who oppress the laborer in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who turn aside the stranger from his right, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.
• Mal 3:8-9 : 8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, 'In what way have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive it.
• Matt 5:33-37 : 33 Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord:' 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne: 35 Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No': for whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
• Matt 23:16-22 : 16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated! 17 Fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. 19 Fools and blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him that dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.
• Matt 25:41 : 41 Then he will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
• Luke 21:35 : 35 For as a snare shall it come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
• 1 Cor 6:7-9 : 7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because you go to law one with another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather allow yourselves to be defrauded? 8 No, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
• Gal 3:10-13 : 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.' 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for 'The just shall live by faith.' 12 And the law is not of faith, but 'The man who does them shall live in them.' 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'
• Eph 4:28 : 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
• 1 Tim 1:9 : 9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
• Heb 6:6-8 : 6 If they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7 For the land that drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and produces crops useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God: 8 But that which bears thorns and thistles is rejected, and is near to being cursed, its end is to be burned.
• Jas 5:4 : 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of those who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
• Jas 5:12 : 12 But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no'; lest you fall into condemnation.
• Rev 21:8 : 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
• Rev 22:15 : 15 For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.
• Deut 11:28-29 : 28 And a curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal.
• Deut 27:15-26 : 15 Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. 16 Cursed be he who dishonors his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 17 Cursed be he who removes his neighbor's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. 18 Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. 19 Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. 20 Cursed be he who lies with his father's wife; because he uncovers his father's bed. And all the people shall say, Amen. 21 Cursed be he who lies with any kind of animal. And all the people shall say, Amen. 22 Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 23 Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say, Amen. 24 Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. 25 Cursed be he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. 26 Cursed be he who does not confirm all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.
• Deut 28:15-68 : 15 But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen unto the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day; that all these curses shall come upon you, and overtake you: 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your store. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your land, the increase of your kine, and the flocks of your sheep. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. 20 The LORD shall send upon you cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that you set your hand unto for to do, until you be destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the wickedness of your doings, whereby you have forsaken Me. 21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cling unto you, until He has consumed you from off the land, where you go to possess it. 22 The LORD shall strike you with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew; and they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 And your heaven that is over your head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. 24 The LORD shall make the rain of your land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon you, until you are destroyed. 25 The LORD shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies: you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shall be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 And your carcass shall be food unto all fowl of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall frighten them away. 27 The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof you cannot be healed. 28 The LORD shall strike you with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29 And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and plundered evermore, and no man shall save you. 30 You shall marry a wife, and another man shall lie with her: you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell therein: you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes thereof. 31 Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat thereof: your donkey shall be violently taken away from before your face, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given unto your enemies, and you shall have none to rescue them. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given unto another people, and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no strength in your hand. 33 The fruit of your land, and all your labors, shall a nation which you know not eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always: 34 So that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. 35 The LORD shall strike you in the knees, and in the legs, with a severe boil that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot unto the top of your head. 36 The LORD shall bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, unto a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. 37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations where the LORD shall lead you. 38 You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards, and dress them, but shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olive shall cast its fruit. 41 You shall beget sons and daughters, but you shall not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. 42 All your trees and fruit of your land shall the locust consume. 43 The foreigner that is within you shall rise up above you very high; and you shall come down very low. 44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. 45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed; because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you: 46 And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and upon your descendants forever. 47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48 Therefore you shall serve your enemies which the LORD shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you. 49 The LORD shall bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you shall not understand; 50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young: 51 And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed: which also shall not leave you either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of your kine, or flocks of your sheep, until he has destroyed you. 52 And he shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land: and he shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you. 53 And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, which the LORD your God has given you, in the siege, and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you: 54 So that the man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: 55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he has nothing left him in the siege, and in the distress, with which your enemies shall distress you in all your gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 And toward her young one that comes out from between her feet, and toward her children who she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and distress, with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates. 58 If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD YOUR GOD; 59 Then the LORD will make your plagues wonderful, and the plagues of your seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 Moreover He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cling to you. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon you, until you are destroyed. 62 And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. 63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land where you go to possess it. 64 And the LORD shall scatter you among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shall you find no ease, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest: but the LORD shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: 66 And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear day and night, and shall have no assurance of your life: 67 In the morning you shall say, Would God it were evening! and at evening you shall say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of your heart with which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. 68 And the LORD shall bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spoke unto you, You shall see it no more again: and there you shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
• Deut 29:19-28 : 19 And it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20 The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the LORD shall separate him for disaster out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: 22 So that the generation to come of your children that rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD has laid upon it; 23 And that the whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and in his wrath: 24 Even all nations shall say, Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean? 25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: 26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given to them: 27 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: 28 And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
• Ps 109:17-20 : 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him. 18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 19 Let it be to him as the garment that covers him, and as a belt with which he is girded continually. 20 Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the LORD, and of those who speak evil against my soul.
• Prov 3:33 : 33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked: but he blesses the dwelling of the just.
• Prov 29:24 : 24 Whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own soul; he hears cursing, and does not reveal it.
• Prov 30:9 : 9 Lest I be full and deny You, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
• Ezek 17:13-16 : 13 And has taken of the king's seed and made a covenant with him, and has taken an oath from him: he has also taken the mighty of the land: 14 That the kingdom might be lowly, that it might not lift itself up, but by keeping his covenant it might stand. 15 But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? Shall he escape who does such things? Or shall he break the covenant and be delivered? 16 As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
• Dan 9:11 : 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, even by departing, that they might not obey Your voice; therefore, the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.
• Hos 4:2 : 2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
• Jer 7:9 : 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know;
• Jer 23:10 : 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their power is not right.