9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
(Verse 9 and following) And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, two women coming forth, and a spirit was on their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite, and they lifted up an amphora between the earth and the sky. And I said to the angel who spoke to me: Where are these taking the amphora? And he said to me: To build a house for it in the land of Shinar, and it will be established and placed there upon its base. LXX: And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, two women coming forth, and a spirit was on their wings, and they themselves had wings like the wings of a hoopoe. And they raised the measure between the earth and the sky. And I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where do they bring this measure? And he said to me: To build a house for him in the land of Babylon, and prepare it, and place it there on its foundation. Two women coming out, the Jews imagine the kingdom of the Medes and Macedonians, both of whom have afflicted the people of Babylon, and there their wickedness has established its seat. However, they craft this in such a way that what is said of themselves may not be understood as being about themselves. For indeed, the two women who depart, there is no doubt that they are to be received by the twelve tribes from the land of Judea: of whom one was taken captive by the Assyrians, the other by the Chaldeans. And in their wings was the spirit, that is, the power of the devil, of whom it is written in Ecclesiastes: If the spirit of the one who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place (Eccl. X, 4). And in the Gospel, we read about an unclean spirit who, after being cast out from his home, wanders through desolate and dry places, and then comes back to his former home with seven other even more wicked spirits (Luke XI). Therefore, these women, carried away by this spirit as if by a gust of wind, were being borne swiftly, and they had wings; according to the Hebrew word 'Asida' (which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated as 'herodion'), only the LXX translated it as 'hoopoe.' The Hebrews consider 'Asida' to be the kite, a very rapacious bird that always attacks domestic birds; as for 'herodion', those who have written about the nature of birds assume three types: one white, another starry; the third black, which is both the most savage and bloodthirsty, and is fierce and unwilling to mate, to the point that blood bursts from their eyes. But the hoopoe, which we have taken from the similarity of the Greek name (for they themselves call it 'popam' from the fact that it examines human excrement), is said to be the most filthy bird, always dwelling in tombs, always in human dung: finally it is said to build its nest out of it, and to feed its young with decaying worms from the filth. Whatever you want to understand about this bird, it is fitting for those women of Judaea and Israel who, because of their sins of prostitution, were handed over to the power of demons and led into captivity by them. And they brought a jar or measure, in which impiety was enclosed, with a mass of lead placed on top so that it could not escape, and the heaviest weight of all sins between earth and heaven. The prophet, understanding this, did not ask (for it was clear to his prophetic spirit) who these women were, nor what they represented, about which he had been previously instructed; but rather to what do they portend. Finally, it follows: I said to the angel who was speaking with me: To what place are these women carrying the jar? He replied: 'To build a house for him in the land of Shinar.' For this reason, the Seventy translated it as 'in the land of Babylon.' Shinar is indeed the plain of the Chaldeans, where those who had moved their feet from the East and were unable to stand in the service of God, built a tower of pride (Gen. 11). Therefore, the city itself is called Babylon, which means confusion, because there the languages of all were confused and mixed. Therefore impiety is attributed to these women in Babylon, so that there his house may be built, and established, and placed upon its foundation, and find eternal rest. Truly, in Babylon there is a seat of impiety, according to both history and mystical understanding. If you are willing to consider two women, the peoples of heretics and Jews (both of whom turn away from the face of God, and are carried by an uncertain spirit, and have wings like eagles, herons, and hoopoes, while always seeking riches like partridges, not with judgement, and hastening to plunder the Church, and delighting in disputes and quarrels, and leading to destruction those whom they deceive, and rolling in the mire of perpetual lust and filthiness), these women relieve the weight of the most serious impiety, and build their house in confusion, and serve the Babylonian king, so that the peoples of heretics and Jews may dwell there, where idolatry resides, serving wood and stone.
[AD 420] Jerome on Zechariah 5:9-11