⁵ Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.

¹² And I saw the dead, great and small,^(A) standing before the throne, and books were opened.^(B) Another book was opened, which is the book of life.^(C) The dead were judged^(D) according to what they had done^(E) as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades^(F) gave up the dead^(G) that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.^{(H) 14} Then death^(I) and Hades^(J) were thrown into the lake of fire.^(K) The lake of fire is the second death.^{(L) 15} Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life^(M) was thrown into the lake of fire.

¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,^(A) which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.^(B)

²⁴ Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

²⁵ “This is the inscription that was written:

²⁶ “Here is what these words mean:

¹⁵ The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it.^(A)

⁸ Then all the king’s wise men^(A) came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.^(B)