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Daniel 5

5 King Belshazzar of Babylon invited a thousand of his officials to a great feast. He drank a lot of wine with them. 2 He became drunk, and he commanded his servants to bring the gold and silver cups that his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his officials, his wives, and his concubines. 3 So his servants brought in the gold cups that Nebuchadnezzar’s solders had taken from the temple where God had been present in Jerusalem. Then the king, his officials, his wives, and his concubines drank wine from those cups. 4 They drank toasts to honor their gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone idols.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand appeared. They started writing on the plaster of a section of the wall of the royal palace. A lamp was shining on that section, so the king could see the palm of the hand as it was writing. 6 That made him very afraid, and his face turned pale. His knees started shaking, and his legs became so weak that he could not stand up.

7 He shouted loudly to tell his servants to bring in his magicians, advisors, and fortune tellers. He said, “If any of them can read this writing and tell me what it means, I will give him a purple robe to wear. I will also give him a gold chain to put around his neck. I will also make him the most powerful ruler in my kingdom except for me and the crown prince.”

8 Then all the wise men whom the king had summoned came in. But none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant. 9 This made King Belshazzar even more afraid. His face became even paler. The officials he had invited to the feast did not know what to do.

10 The king’s mother learned that the king and his nobles were talking about what to do. So she came into the room where they were having the feast. She said to Belshazzar, “Your Majesty, I hope that you will live for a very long time! Please do not let this frighten you and make your face turn pale. 11 There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. When your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar was ruling, they discovered that this man could understand many things. He was very wise, like the gods. Your grandfather King Nebuchadnezzar, who was one of the kings before you, made him the leader of all the different wise men of Babylon. 12 Nebuchadnezzar did that because he has very good character. He can learn and understand many things. He is able to say what dreams mean. He can solve puzzles and explain things that are very difficult to understand. That man is Daniel. The king gave him a new name, Belteshazzar. If you summon Daniel, he will tell you what this writing means.”

13 So the king had his servants bring Daniel to him. The king said to him, “You must be Daniel. I understand that you are one of the Judeans whom the soldiers of my grandfather Nebuchadnezzar brought here as prisoners from Judah. 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you, that you are very intelligent, and that you are very wise. 15 I want you to know that I brought in my wise men, such as my enchanters, to read this writing and tell me what it means. But they have not been able to do that. 16 But then someone told me about you. You are able to say what dreams mean and explain things that are very difficult to understand. If you really can read this writing and tell me what it means, I will give you a purple robe to wear. I will also give you a gold chain to put around your neck. I will also make you the most powerful ruler in my kingdom except for me and the crown prince”

17 Then Daniel replied to the king, “You may keep your gifts or give them to someone else. But I will read this writing for you and tell you what it means.

18 Your Majesty, this is why the hand wrote that for you. The Supreme God made Nebuchadnezzar, one of the men who ruled before you, a great king. People honored him and admired him. 19 Because God made him such a powerful king, people who came from many different nations and groups and who spoke many different languages were very afraid of him. If he wanted someone to die, he could command his soldiers to execute that person. If he wanted someone to live, he could command his soldiers not to harm that person. If he wanted to give someone an important position, he could do that. If he wanted to make someone unimportant, he could do that too. 20 However, he began to think of himself as very great. He became stubborn, and he acted arrogantly. As a result, God made him no longer the king. He was not glorious anymore. 21 He no longer lived among people. He had a mind like an animal. He lived among wild donkeys. He ate grass as oxen do. The dew that forms from the air made his body damp. He lived that way until he recognized that the Supreme God rules over human kingdoms. He chooses who will be their kings.

22 You, Belshazzar, have now become the king. You knew all these things, but you have not been humble. 23 Instead, you have considered yourself to be greater than God, who reigns in heaven. You have commanded your servants to bring you the cups from his temple in Jerusalem. You, your officials, your wives, and your concubines have been drinking from those cups. You have been making toasts in honor of your own gold. silver, bronze. iron, wood, and stone idols. Those idols represent gods that are not real. They cannot see, hear, or know anything! You have not honored the God who keeps you alive and who controls everything that happens to you. 24 So God sent this hand to write this message to you.

25 The hand wrote these words: ‘Mene,’ ‘Mene,’ ‘Tekel,’ and ‘Parsin.’

26 This is what these words mean.

‘Mene’ means ‘counted.’ This means that God has counted how many days you have been king, and he has decided that there should not be any more.

27 ‘Tekel’ means ‘weighed.’ It is as if God has weighed you on a scale and found that you do not weigh what you should.

28 ‘Peres’ means ‘separated.’ God is going to separate your kingdom from you. The Medes and the Persians will conquer it, and they will rule it instead of you.”

29 Then Belshazzar ordered his servants to put a purple robe on Daniel and a gold chain around his neck. He proclaimed that Daniel would be the most powerful ruler in his kingdom except for him and the crown prince

30 But that same night, enemy soldiers got into the city and killed Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans. 31 Darius the Mede became the king instead. He was 62 years old.

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