Zechariah 5:4

it shall remain abide, R. V., "until it has accomplished that for which it was sent, its utter destruction." Pusey.

Mr Wright in his commentary quotes, in illustration of the curse abiding till it has accomplished its mission, the story of Glaucus (Herod. vi. 86), who consulted the oracle as to whether he were at liberty to perjure himself, and retain for his own use a sum of money which had been committed to his trust. The response was that though such a course would be for his present gain, "yet an oath hath a nameless son, handless and footless, yet swift in pursuit till he seize and destroy the whole race and house." And accordingly, though Glaucus restored the money and asked forgiveness for the thought of his heart, it was observed that, since to design the evil was to incur the guilt of executing it, his family became extinct.

The Seventh Vision. The Woman in the Ephah, Zechariah 5:5-11. Invited again by the Interpreting Angel to contemplate what was coming into view, Zechariah 5:5, Zechariah sees an Ephah, or large measure, appearing on the scene, which he is taught to regard as a representation of the wicked and their doom, Zechariah 5:6. From the mouth of the ephah a circular lid or cover of lead is temporarily lifted up, and a woman is seen sitting in the midst of the ephah, Zechariah 5:7. This woman, the Angel explains, is a personification of wickedness; and he proceeds to cast her down again into the ephah, from which she had attempted to rise, and to press down the weighty leaden cover on the mouth of the ephah, so as to confine her securely within it, Zechariah 5:8. As the prophet gazes again, two women, furnished with stork-like wings, lift up the ephah and bear it swiftly through the air with the woman shut up in it, Zechariah 5:9. On his enquiring its destination, Zechariah 5:10, he learns from the Angel that it is to be carried into the land of Shinar, and there to find an abiding dwelling-place, Zechariah 5:11.