What Does Zechariah 5:7 Mean in the King James?

And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

Zechariah 5:7 · 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 lifted weight reveals that what the measure contains is pictured as a person, seated at its center.

THE MEANING

The scene makes hiddenness physical: a woman sits in the center of a measured vessel beneath a lifted weight of lead. What is inside can be seen and named; the following verse names it wickedness and lays the weight over the opening again.

THE ROOT

נִשֵּׂאת

nissa’et

GROWS FROM

נשא

lift, carry, bear

“lifted up” in this verse is nissa’et. English “lifted” suggests only a change of position, while ⁨נשא⁩ holds lifting and carrying in the same root. The weight is raised, but its burden remains part of what the image makes visible.

ALSO GROWS

massa: burden, load; also an oracle

מַשָּׂא

The root’s sense of carrying makes the lead register as weight, not just movement.

nasi: prince, chief; one elevated

נָשִׂיא

The same root can describe a person raised up, while here an object is lifted to reveal the person within.

THE PATTERN

What is enclosed does not stay hidden when its covering is lifted; what appears can then be named.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Psalm 139:12 · KJVEven darkness cannot keep what is present from being seen.

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

Luke 12:2 · KJVA covering does not make its contents permanently unknowable.

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Hebrews 4:13 · KJVThe hidden is exposed and made fully visible.

THE THREAD

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:4 · KJV

The Hebrew verb behind “lifted” here is ⁨נָשָׂא⁩ (nasa), also rendered “borne” in Isaiah 53:4. The root holds elevation and carrying together: the lead is raised, yet its weight remains part of the image.

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