The Handwriting on the Wall

5 ^(A)King Belshazzar ^(B)made a great feast for a thousand of his ^(C)lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

^2 (D)Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that ^(E)the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father^[a] had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³ Then they brought in ^(F)the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine and ^(G)praised the ^(H)gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

^5 (I)Immediately ^(J)the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw ^(K)the hand as it wrote. ^6 (L)Then the king's color changed, ^(M)and his thoughts alarmed him; ^(N)his limbs gave way, and ^(O)his knees knocked together.

²² And you his son,^{[a] (A)}Belshazzar, ^(B)have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, ²³ but you have lifted up yourself against ^(C)the Lord of heaven. And ^(D)the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. ^(E)And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, ^(F)but the God in whose hand is your breath, and ^(G)whose are all your ways, ^(H)you have not honored.

²⁴ “Then from his presence ^(I)the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. ²⁵ And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. ²⁶ This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered^[b] the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel, ^(J)you have been weighed^[c] in the balances and found wanting; ²⁸ Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to ^(K)the Medes and ^(L)Persians.”^[d]