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Belshazzar

Bel protect the king!, the last of the kings of Babylon (Dan. 5:1). He was the son of Nabonidus by Nitocris, who was the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and the widow of Nergal-sharezer. When still young he made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and when heated with wine sent for the sacred vessels his “father” (Dan. 5:2), or grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from the temple in Jerusalem, and he and his princes drank out of them. In the midst of their mad revelry a hand was seen by the king tracing on the wall the announcement of God’s judgment, which that night fell upon him. At the instance of the queen (i.e., his mother) Daniel was brought in, and he interpreted the writing. That night the kingdom of the Chaldeans came to an end, and the king was slain (Dan. 5:30).

The absence of the name of Belshazzar on the monuments was long regarded as an argument against the genuineness of the Book of Daniel. In 1854 Sir Henry Rawlinson found an inscription of Nabonidus which referred to his eldest son. Quite recently, however, the side of a ravine undermined by heavy rains fell at Hillah, a suburb of Babylon. A number of huge, coarse earthenware vases were laid bare. These were filled with tablets, the receipts and contracts of a firm of Babylonian bankers, which showed that Belshazzar had a household, with secretaries and stewards. One was dated in the third year of the king Marduk-sar-uzur. As Marduk-sar-uzar was another name for Baal, this Marduk-sar-uzur was found to be the Belshazzar of Scripture. In one of these contract tablets, dated in the July after the defeat of the army of Nabonidus, we find him paying tithes for his sister to the temple of the sun-god at Sippara.

Male

People and places

Father: Nebuchadnezzar

Recorded scripture occurrences (8)

References recorded in the source data; this is not an exhaustive list of mentions.

DAN 5:1: RV DAN 5:1 · LV DAN 5:1 · Read together DAN 5:1

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OET-RV DAN 5:1

5 Several years later when Belshatsar (Belshazzar) was king, he put on a feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine with them all.

OET-LV DAN 5:1

5 Bēləshaʼʦʦar Oh/the_king he _made a _feast great for_nobles _of_his a _thousand and_(to)_before the_thousand (the)_wine he_was_drinking.

DAN 5:2: RV DAN 5:2 · LV DAN 5:2 · Read together DAN 5:2

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OET-RV DAN 5:2

2 As Belshatsar was drinking the wine, he remembered the gold and silver cups that his father Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) had taken from the temple in Yerushalem (Jerusalem), and ordered that they be brought in so that the king and his nobles, and his wives and his concubines, could drink from them.

OET-LV DAN 5:2

2 Bēləshaʼʦʦar he _said in_the _taste _of the _wine to_bring DOM_the_vessels _of (the)_gold and_(the)_silver which Nəⱱūkadneʦʦar father _of_his he _had _brought _out from the_temple which was_in_Yərūshelēm/(Jerusalem) so_that _they _may _drink with_them Oh/the_king and_nobles _of_his wives _of_his and_concubines _of_his.

DAN 5:9: RV DAN 5:9 · LV DAN 5:9 · Read together DAN 5:9

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OET-RV DAN 5:9

9 Then King Belshatsar became more afraid, his face went whiter still, and his nobles also had no idea what to do.

OET-LV DAN 5:9

9 Then Oh/the_king Bēləshaʼʦʦar exceedingly was_alarmed and_brightness(es)_of_his were_changing on_him and_nobles _of_his were_dumbfounded.

DAN: all 8 recorded references

DAN 5:1: RV DAN 5:1 · LV DAN 5:1 · Read together DAN 5:1

DAN 5:2: RV DAN 5:2 · LV DAN 5:2 · Read together DAN 5:2

DAN 5:9: RV DAN 5:9 · LV DAN 5:9 · Read together DAN 5:9

DAN 5:22: RV DAN 5:22 · LV DAN 5:22 · Read together DAN 5:22

DAN 5:29: RV DAN 5:29 · LV DAN 5:29 · Read together DAN 5:29

DAN 5:30: RV DAN 5:30 · LV DAN 5:30 · Read together DAN 5:30

DAN 7:1: RV DAN 7:1 · LV DAN 7:1 · Read together DAN 7:1

DAN 8:1: RV DAN 8:1 · LV DAN 8:1 · Read together DAN 8:1

Words tagged with this person or place

These links follow the source-word tags and may include pronouns. Tagging is not exhaustive.

DAN: 8 tagged passages

DAN 5:1: בֵּלְשַׁאצַּ֣ר

DAN 5:2: בֵּלְשַׁאצַּ֞ר

DAN 5:9: בֵלְשַׁאצַּר֙

DAN 5:22: בֵּלְשַׁאצַּ֔ר

DAN 5:29: בֵּלְשַׁאצַּ֗ר

DAN 5:30: בֵּלְאשַׁצַּ֖ר

DAN 7:1: לְ,בֵלְאשַׁצַּר֙

DAN 8:1: בֵּלְאשַׁצַּ֣ר

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