¹³ So they brought Daniel to the king and he asked, “Is your name Daniel, one of the captives my father the king brought here from Judah? ¹⁴ I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you understand secrets and are very smart and very wise. ¹⁵ The wise men and the men of magic were brought to me to read this writing on the wall. I wanted them to explain to me what it means, but they could not explain it. ¹⁶ I have heard that you are able to explain what things mean, and that you can find the answer to very hard problems. If you can read this writing on the wall and explain to me what it means, this is what I will do for you: I will give you purple robes to wear and will put a gold chain around your neck. Then you will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

¹⁷ Then Daniel answered the king, “King Belshazzar, you can keep your gifts for yourself, or you can give them to someone else. But I will still read the writing on the wall for you and explain what it means.

¹⁸ “King, God Most High made your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar a very great and powerful king and gave him great wealth. ¹⁹ People from many nations and language groups were very afraid of Nebuchadnezzar because God made him a very powerful king. Nebuchadnezzar killed whoever he wanted and let those who pleased him live. If he wanted to make people important, he made them important. If he wanted to bring them down, he brought them down.

²⁰ “But Nebuchadnezzar became proud and stubborn, so his power was taken away from him. He was taken off his royal throne and stripped of his glory. ²¹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was forced to go away from people. His mind became like the mind of an animal. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox. He became wet with dew. These things happened to him until he learned his lesson. He learned that God Most High rules over human kingdoms, and he gives them to whoever he wants.

²² “But Belshazzar, you already knew this. You are Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson,^[a] but still you have not made yourself humble. ²³ No, you did not become humble. Instead, you have turned against the Lord of heaven. You ordered the drinking cups from his Temple to be brought to you. Then you and your royal officials, your wives, and your slave women drank wine from those cups. You gave praise to the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone. They are not really gods; they cannot see or hear or understand anything. But you did not give honor to the God who has the power over your life and everything you do. ²⁴ So because of that, God sent the hand that wrote on the wall. ²⁵ These are the words that were written on the wall:

mene, mene, tekel, uparsin.

²⁶ “This is what these words mean:

²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave an order for Daniel to be dressed in purple clothes. A gold chain was put around his neck, and he was appointed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ That very same night, Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was killed.