translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ZEC

label: NET study note

text: Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.


text: Here two women appear as the agents of the Lord because the whole scene is feminine in nature. The Hebrew word for “wickedness” in v. 8 ( רִשְׁעָה ) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout.


text: The land of Babylonia ( Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located ( Gen 10:10 ). Babylon throughout the Bible symbolizes the focus of anti-God sentiment and activity ( Gen 11:4; 14:1 ; –14; 47:1-3 ; –51; Rev 14:8; 17:1, 5, 18; 18:21 ).