Daniel 5

¹ King Belshazzar[*a] gave a great banquet for his noblemen; a thousand of them attended, and he drank wine in company with this thousand.

² As he sipped his wine, Belshazzar gave orders for the gold and silver vessels to be brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, so that the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women could drink out of them.

³ The gold and silver vessels looted from the sanctuary of the Temple of God in Jerusalem were brought in, and the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women drank out of them.

⁴ They drank their wine and praised their gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone.

⁵ Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared, and began to write on the plaster of the palace wall, directly behind the lamp-stand; and the king could see the hand as it wrote.

⁶ The king turned pale with alarm: his thigh-joints went slack and his knees began to knock.

⁷ He shouted for his enchanters, Chaldaeans and wizards. And the king said to the Babylonian sages, ‘Anyone who can read this writing and tell me what it means shall be dressed in purple, and have a chain of gold put round his neck, and be third in rank in the kingdom’.

⁸ The king’s sages all crowded forward, but they could neither read the writing nor explain to the king what it meant.

⁹ Greatly alarmed, King Belshazzar turned even paler, and his noblemen were equally disturbed.

¹⁰ Then the queen, attracted by the noise made by the king and his noblemen, came into the banqueting hall. ‘O king, live for ever!’ said the queen. ‘Do not be alarmed, do not look so pale.

¹¹ In your kingdom there is a man in whom lives the spirit of God Most Holy. In your father’s days, he was known for having percipience, intelligence and wisdom comparable to that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, made him head of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldaeans and wizards.

¹² Since such a marvellous spirit, and such knowledge and intelligence in interpreting dreams, solving enigmas and unravelling difficult problems, live in this man Daniel, whom the king had renamed Belteshazzar, send for Daniel: he will be able to tell you what this means.’

¹³ Daniel was brought into the king’s presence; the king said to Daniel, ‘Are you the Daniel who was one of the Judaean exiles brought by my father the king from Judah?

¹⁴ I am told that the spirit of God Most Holy lives in you, and that you are known for your perception, intelligence and marvellous wisdom.

¹⁵ The sages and enchanters have already been brought to me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they have been unable to reveal its meaning.

¹⁶ As I am told that you are able to give interpretations and to unravel difficult problems, if you can read the writing and tell me what it means, you shall be dressed in purple, and have a chain of gold put round your neck, and be third in rank in the kingdom.’

¹⁷ Then Daniel spoke up in the presence of the king. ‘Keep your gifts for yourself,’ he said ‘and give your rewards to others. I will read the writing to the king without them, and tell him what it means.

¹⁸ O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father sovereignty, greatness, glory, majesty.

¹⁹ He made him so great that men of all peoples, nations and languages shook with dread before him: he killed whom he pleased, spared whom he pleased, promoted whom he pleased, degraded whom he pleased.

²⁰ But because his heart grew swollen with pride, and his spirit stiff with arrogance; he was deposed from his sovereign throne and stripped of his glory.

²¹ He was driven from the society of men, his heart grew completely animal; he lived with the wild asses; he fed on grass like the oxen; his body was drenched by the dew of heaven, until he had learnt that the Most High rules over the empire of men and appoints whom he pleases to rule it.

²² But you, Belshazzar, who are his son, you have not humbled your heart, in spite of knowing all this.

²³ You have defied the Lord of heaven, you have had the vessels from his Temple brought to you, and you, your noblemen, your wives and your singing women have drunk your wine out of them. You have praised gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone, which cannot either see, hear or understand; but you have given no glory to the God who holds your breath and all your fortunes in his hands.

²⁴ That is why he has sent the hand which, by itself, has written these words.

²⁵ The writing reads: Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin.[*b]

²⁶ The meaning of the words is this: Mene: God has measured your sovereignty and put an end to it;

²⁷ Tekel: you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting;

²⁸ Parsin: your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.’

²⁹ At Belshazzar’s order Daniel was dressed in purple, a chain of gold was put round his neck and he was proclaimed third in rank in the kingdom.

³⁰ That same night, the Chaldaean king Belshazzar was murdered,