Daniel5
New Living Translation
1Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
2While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.
3So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.
4While they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote,
6and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.
7The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will have a gold chain placed around his neck. He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom!”
8But when all the king’s wise men had come in, none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant.
9So the king grew even more alarmed, and his face turned pale. His nobles, too, were shaken.
10But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, “Long live the king! Don’t be so pale and frightened.
11There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom like that of the gods. Your predecessor, the king—your predecessor King Nebuchadnezzar—made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon.
12This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has exceptional ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”
13So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king asked him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles brought from Judah by my predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar?
14I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom.
15My wise men and enchanters have tried to read the words on the wall and tell me their meaning, but they cannot do it.
16I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems. If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will have a gold chain placed around your neck. You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”
17Daniel answered the king, “Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means.
18Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar.
19He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace.
20But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.
21He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.
22“You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.
23For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!
24So God has sent this hand to write this message.
25“This is the message that was written: Mene, mene, tekel, and Parsin.
26This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
27Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.
28Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
29Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
30That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.
31And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Daniel 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Belshazzar's impious feast; the hand-writing on the wall. (1-9). Daniel is sent for to interpret it. (10-17). Daniel warns the king of his destruction. (18-31).
vv1-9
Belshazzar bade defiance to the judgments of God. Most historians consider that Cyrus then besieged Babylon. Security and sensuality are sad proofs of approaching ruin. That mirth is sinful indeed, which profanes sacred things; and what are many of the songs used at modern feasts better than the praises sung by the heathens to their gods! See how God struck terror upon Belshazzar and his lords. God's written word is enough to put the proudest, boldest sinner in a fright. What we see of God, the part of the hand that writes in the book of the creatures, and in the book of the Scriptures, should fill us with awful thoughts concerning that part which we do not see. If this be the finger of God, what is his arm when made bare? And what is He? The king's guilty conscience told him that he had no reason to expect any good news from heaven. God can, in a moment, make the heart of the stoutest sinner to tremble; and there needs no more than to let loose his own thoughts upon him; they will give him trouble enough. No bodily pain can equal the inward agony which sometimes seizes the sinner in the midst of mirth, carnal pleasures, and worldly pomp. Sometimes terrors cause a man to flee to Christ for pardon and peace; but many cry out for fear of wrath, who are not humbled for their sins, and who seek relief by lying vanities. The ignorance and uncertainty concerning the Holy Scriptures, shown by many who call themselves wise, only tend to drive sinners to despair, as the ignorance of these wise men did.
vv10-17
Daniel was forgotten at court; he lived privately, and was then ninety years of age. Many consult servants of God on curious questions, or to explain difficult subjects, but without asking the way of salvation, or the path of duty. Daniel slighted the offer of reward. He spoke to Belshazzar as to a condemned criminal. We should despise all the gifts and rewards this world can give, did we see, as we may by faith, its end hastening on; but let us do our duty in the world, and do it all the real service we can.
vv18-31
Daniel reads Belshazzar's doom. He had not taken warning by the judgments upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he had insulted God. Sinners are pleased with gods that neither see, nor hear, nor know; but they will be judged by One to whom all things are open. Daniel reads the sentence written on the wall. All this may well be applied to the doom of every sinner. At death, the sinner's days are numbered and finished; after death is the judgment, when he will be weighed in the balance, and found wanting; and after judgment the sinner will be cut asunder, and given as a prey to the devil and his angels. While these things were passing in the palace, it is considered that the army of Cyrus entered the city; and when Belshazzar was slain, a general submission followed. Soon will every impenitent sinner find the writing of God's word brought to pass upon him, whether he is weighed in the balance of the law as a self-righteous Pharisee, or in that of the gospel as a painted hypocrite.
Key Words
מֶלֶךְ: a king
בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר: {Belshatstsar, a Babylonian king}
עֲבַד: to do, make, prepare, keep, etc.
רַב: {abundant}
לְחֶם: {(for man or beast), especially bread, or grain (for making it)}
אֲלַף: {hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousand}
רַבְרְבָן: a magnate
שְׁתָה: {to imbibe (literally or figuratively)}
חֲמַר: wine
קְבֵל: (adverbially) in front of; usually (with other particles) on account of, so as, since, hence
Cross References
Daniel 5Prophetic description of the sudden terror and physical trembling of Babylon's king during a feast.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Jeremiah foretells that nations would serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson (Belshazzar).
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Establishes the origin of the temple vessels that Belshazzar sacrilegiously abuses.
Supported by John Calvin
Prophetic rebuke of Babylon's secure, careless pleasure-seeking and false sense of safety.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Prophecy that Babylon's princes and rulers would be made drunk and sleep a perpetual sleep.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Traces the ultimate return of these same temple vessels back to Jerusalem.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Prophecy that God would loose the loins of kings before Cyrus, fulfilled in Belshazzar's terror.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Historical precedent of a divine voice removing the kingdom from proud Nebuchadnezzar.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Exposes the folly of praising lifeless idols of wood and stone over the living God.
Supported by JFB
Identifies Daniel's status and previous service under Belshazzar's predecessor.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Nebuchadnezzar's warning that God is able to abase those who walk in pride.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Wisdom principle linking pride directly to destruction and a haughty spirit to a fall.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The exact judgment predicted and fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar that Belshazzar ignored.
Supported by John Calvin
Daniel explicitly bases Belshazzar's guilt on his failure to learn from his father's history.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Contrast between Nebuchadnezzar's ultimate acknowledgment of God and Belshazzar's defiance.
Supported by John Calvin