Daniel 5

King Belshazzar's Banquet

¹One evening, King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his highest officials, and he drank wine with them.

²He got drunk and ordered his servants to bring in the gold and silver cups his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar wanted the cups, so that he and all his wives and officials could drink from them.[#5.2 Belshazzar was actually the son of King Nabonidus, who was from another family. But in ancient times, it was possible to refer to a previous king as the “father” of the present king.]

^3-4When the gold cups were brought in, everyone at the banquet drank from them and praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.[#3 Macc 4.16.]

⁵Suddenly a human hand was seen writing on the plaster wall of the palace. The hand was just behind the lampstand, and the king could see it writing.

⁶He was so frightened that his face turned pale, his knees started shaking, and his legs became weak.

⁷The king called in his advisors, who claimed they could talk with the spirits of the dead and understand the meanings found in the stars. He told them, “The man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. He will wear robes of royal purple and a gold chain around his neck.”

⁸All of King Belshazzar's highest officials came in, but not one of them could read the writing or tell what it meant,

⁹and they were completely puzzled. Now the king was more afraid than ever before, and his face turned white as a ghost.

¹⁰When the queen heard the king and his officials talking, she came in and said:

¹³When Daniel was brought in, the king said:

¹⁷Daniel answered:

²⁹Belshazzar gave a command for Daniel to be made the third most powerful man in his kingdom and to be given a purple robe and a gold chain.

³⁰That same night, the king was killed.

³¹Then Darius the Mede, who was 62 years old, took over his kingdom.