Глава 5

Thus, with many different visions, confirming what was said about royal power and the priesthood, and foretelling the end of the construction of the divine church, with the threat of punishment he frightens those who hear, turning them away from vice and encouraging them to virtue, and shows the Prophet (Zech. 5:1) a great sickle hanging and flying in the air, Zechariah 5:2. the latitude of ten lacs and the longitude of twenty lacs, Zechariah 5:3–4. This is the oath that comes on the face of the whole earth: because of this, every thief will be avenged even to death. And I will carry him away, says the Lord Almighty, and he will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears in My name as a lie, and will dwell in the midst of his house, and will destroy him, and his wood, and his stones. He called an oath a punishment that extends to the entire universe and is imposed on the doers of untruth. And thus both the Prophet and the people learned that the God of all is the judge of all people, and punishes everyone according to their dignity, subjecting to final destruction not only those who are ungodly before Him, but also those who offend their neighbors. For let no one think that this threat was uttered falsely only to the thieves and the repentant; God pronounced this judgment on all iniquity. Since “the whole law and the Prophets hang” (Matthew 22:40) in this word: “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Luke 10:27); then, under a false oath and theft, he accumulated all types of sin; because breaking an oath is the height of wickedness, and there is no love of God in the violator; Theft is an insult to one's neighbor, and whoever loves his neighbor will not agree to insult him. Therefore, these main laws contain all the others, and God rightly threatens those who break them with this punishment. Zechariah 5:5–6. And the Angel came out and spoke to me, and said to me: Look at your eyes, and see what is happening. And reh: what is there? And he said: this is the outgoing measure. And he said: this is their untruth throughout all the earth, And by this we learn that the Lord of all orders everything by measure and weight. So Abraham, having foreshadowed that “his seed will be supreme” (Gen. 15:13), reveals the reason; for he says: “The Ammorites have not been filled with sin until now” (Gen. 15:16), that is, they have not sinned so much as to deserve final destruction; and therefore I will not allow them to be beaten now, but I will wait for the measure of lawlessness. So, having determined that those who lived under Noah should live one hundred and twenty years (Gen. 6:3), when he saw that sin was increasing and exceeding its measure, he did not wait for the appointed day, but shortened the period, and in the hundredth year he brought a flood of water on everyone. Zechariah 5:7–8. And behold the talent of the tin 3 land: and behold, one woman sits in the middle of the measure. And he said: This is iniquity, and cast it into the middle of the measure, and cast the talent of tin into its mouth. The word of God likens virtue to beads: “like the kingdom of heaven is to a man; I seek good beads” (Matthew 13:45); The Holy Scripture calls the punishment of sin tin. It is heavy by nature, but the burden of sin is also very heavy. And this is what the divine David teaches us, saying: “My iniquities have exceeded my head, for a heavy burden weighs me down” (Ps. 37:5). Therefore, the godly-wise Zechariah sees sin appearing in the form of a wife; because many evils are born from voluptuousness; He also sees punishment as a kind of heavy tin placed on the lips of iniquity, according to the word of the psalm song, which says: “all iniquity will stop its mouth” (Ps. 107:42). And the fruit of sin is shame, so Blessed Paul says: “having been freed from sin, become enslaved to righteousness. What kind of fruit do you have then? Now you are ashamed of them” (Rom. 6:18, 21). Therefore, it was revealed to the Prophet that God resolved the sin of the people and stopped the punishment. It is the Prophet who sees (Zech. 5:9) two winged women rushing with noise; and their wings were like widows’ wings, he says. And the vdod is the fastest flying bird; Her body is small, but her wings are larger than her body. Those wives, says the Prophet, having taken this measure, rushed through the air. And I asked the divine Angel: Zechariah 5:10. kamo siya refer to the measure? And it was revealed to me that they were withdrawing to Babylon in order not only to put measures in the city, but also Zechariah 5:11. build a church for her, and place it there for your preparation, because, says God, I will not show humanity to Babylon, as I determined for Jerusalem the appointed time for desolation, and then again honored her with mercy and forgiveness; on the contrary, Babylon will bear constant punishment for her great wickedness.