| Geneva Study Bible And, behold, there was lifted up a {g} talent of lead: and this is a {h} woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. (g) To cover the measure. (h) Which represents iniquity, as in the next verse. Wesley's Notes 5:7 And behold - Here is another part of this vision. Lifted up - Brought thither to cover it. A talent - A piece of lead of a talent weight, as large as the mouth of the ephah. A woman - A woman, the third in the vision. Perhaps this vision was purposely obscure, least a plain denunciation of the second overthrow of the state and temple, might discourage them from going forward in the present restoration of them. King James Translators' Notes talent: or, weighty piece Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 7. lifted up-The cover is lifted off the ephah to let the prophet see the female personification of "wickedness" within, about to be removed from Judea. The cover being "of lead," implies that the "woman" cannot escape from the ponderous load which presses her down. talent-literally, "a round piece": hence a talent, a weight of one hundred twenty-five pounds troy. woman-for comparison of "wickedness" to a woman, Pr 2:16; 5:3, 4. In personifying abstract terms, the feminine is used, as the idea of giving birth to life is associated with woman. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 5:5-11 In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon the sinner as a weight of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they filled the measure of their iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting his gospel. Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it, carried away to some far country. This intimates that the Jews should be hurried out of their own land, and forced to dwell in far countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah shall be firmly placed, and their sufferings shall continue far longer than in their late captivity. Blindness is happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief. Let sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; for the more they multiply crimes, the faster the measure fills. | 
