Daniel 5:1-8
Lexham English Bible
The Mysterious Writing on the Wall
5 Belshazzar the king made a great festival for a thousand of his lords,[a] and in the presence of[b] the thousand lords he was drinking wine.[c] 2 When he tasted the wine,[d] Belshazzar commanded that they bring the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his predecessor[e] had taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords,[f] his wives and his concubines may drink from them. 3 Then they brought in the vessels of gold that they took from the temple, the house of God that was in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords,[g] his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.[h]
5 Immediately[i] human fingers[j] appeared and they wrote opposite[k] the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the palace of the king, and the king was watching[l] the palm of the hand that was writing. 6 Then his face changed and his thoughts terrified him, and his hip joints gave way[m] and his knees knocked together.[n] 7 The king cried aloud[o] to bring in the conjurers,[p] the astrologers[q] and the diviners; the king spoke[r] and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man that can read this writing and can tell me its explanation will be clothed in purple and will have a necklace of gold hung around his neck and he will rule as third in authority in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the wise men of the king came in, but they were not able to read the writing or to make known its explanation.[s]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Daniel 5:1 Or “nobles”
- Daniel 5:1 Literally “to over against”
- Daniel 5:1 Or “the wine”
- Daniel 5:2 Literally “At the taste of the wine”
- Daniel 5:2 Literally “father”
- Daniel 5:2 Or “nobles”
- Daniel 5:3 Or “nobles”
- Daniel 5:4 All these metals have the definite article that does not have to be translated into English to retain the meaning
- Daniel 5:5 Literally “In its the hour”
- Daniel 5:5 Literally “fingers of the hand of a man”
- Daniel 5:5 Literally “to over against”
- Daniel 5:5 Or “gazing at”
- Daniel 5:6 Literally “the limbs of his hip became loose”
- Daniel 5:6 Literally “his knees this to this they knocked together”
- Daniel 5:7 Literally “with strength”
- Daniel 5:7 Or “enchanters”
- Daniel 5:7 Literally “Chaldeans”
- Daniel 5:7 Literally “answered”
- Daniel 5:8 Aramaic “the explanation/ interpretation”
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