What Does Zechariah 5:10 Mean in the King James?

Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

Zechariah 5:10 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The vision makes destination part of the burden: wickedness is not simply lifted away; it is being carried somewhere.

THE MEANING

You see a burden in motion and ask where it is going. The ephah carries wickedness beyond its first enclosure toward a destination where it can be housed. The question makes that destination part of the vision: movement has not yet become release.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse unsettles the belief that moving what is corrupt out of view means it has been dealt with; it asks where the burden is being carried.

THE ROOT

מוֹלִיכִים

molikhim

GROWS FROM

הלך

⁨הלך⁩ (halakh) means to go or walk; in this form, it means to cause to go, lead, or carry.

The verb behind “bear” pictures the ephah being made to go onward. The question is not only what is inside the measure, but where this burden is being led.

ALSO GROWS

halakh: go, walk

הָלַךְ

This basic motion is what the carrying form causes the ephah to do.

holikh: lead, bring, cause to go

הוֹלִיךְ

This causative form makes the movement explicit: something is being led onward.

mahalakh: course, movement, process

מַהֲלָךְ

This related noun gives movement a direction and course, fitting the question of where the ephah is headed.

THE PATTERN

What is carried away still has a destination, and that destination can become its dwelling.

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

Genesis 11:2 · KJVShinar becomes a place of settlement, the same land named as the ephah’s destination.

Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

Matthew 12:44 · KJVThe expelled spirit still has a destination: it returns to a house and seeks to dwell there again.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2 · KJVBabylon becomes a habitation for what it receives, showing how a destination can take the form of a dwelling.

THE THREAD

And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.

Zechariah 5:11 · KJV

The next verse names the destination: the ephah is carried to Shinar so a house can be built for it. The movement ends in settlement, as wickedness is given a structure and a base.

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