Belshazzar’s Feast

5 Belshazzar the king ^(A)made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand. ² While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels ^(B)which his ^[a]father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³ Then they brought the gold ^(C)vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine, ^(D)and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

^5 (E)In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his ^(F)knees knocked against each other. ^7 (G)The king cried ^[b]aloud to bring in ^(H)the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; ^(I)and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸ Now all the king’s wise men came, ^(J)but they could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^(K)troubled, his countenance was changed, and his lords were ^[c]astonished.

¹⁰ The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. ^11 (L)There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your ^[d]father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your ^[e]father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. ¹² Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and ^[f]explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, ^(M)whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.”

The Writing on the Wall Explained

¹³ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel ^[g]who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my ^[h]father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴ I have heard of you, that ^(N)the ^[i]Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. ¹⁵ Now ^(O)the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the thing. ¹⁶ And I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and ^[j]explain enigmas. ^(P)Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

¹⁷ Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. ¹⁸ O king, ^(Q)the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your ^[k]father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. ¹⁹ And because of the majesty that He gave him, ^(R)all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he ^(S)executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. ^20 (T)But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. ²¹ Then he was ^(U)driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, ^(V)till he ^[l]knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.

²² “But you his son, Belshazzar, ^(W)have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. ^23 (X)And you have ^[m]lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the ^(Y)vessels of ^[n]His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, ^(Z)which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand ^(AA)and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. ²⁴ Then the ^[o]fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.

²⁵ “And this is the inscription that was written:

^[p]MENE, MENE, ^[q]TEKEL, ^[r]UPHARSIN.

²⁶ This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; ²⁷ TEKEL: ^(AB)You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; ²⁸ PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the ^(AC)Medes and ^(AD)Persians.”^{[s] 29} Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him ^(AE)that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Belshazzar’s Fall

^30 (AF)That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. ^31 (AG)And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

1 Now it came to pass, in the days when ^(A)the judges ^[a]ruled, that there was ^(B)a famine in the land. And a certain man of ^(C)Bethlehem, Judah, went to ^[b]dwell in the country of ^(D)Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. ² The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—^(E)Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went ^(F)to the country of Moab and remained there. ³ Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. ⁴ Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they ^[c]dwelt there about ten years. ⁵ Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Naomi Returns with Ruth

⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had ^(G)visited^[d] His people by ^(H)giving them bread. ⁷ Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. ⁸ And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ^(I)“Go, return each to her mother’s house. ^(J)The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt ^(K)with the dead and with me. ⁹ The Lord grant that you may find ^(L)rest, each in the house of her husband.”

So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. ¹⁰ And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, ^(M)that they may be your husbands? ¹² Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, ¹³ would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that ^(N)the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”

¹⁴ Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth ^(O)clung to her.

¹⁵ And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to ^(P)her people and to her gods; ^(Q)return after your sister-in-law.”

¹⁶ But Ruth said:

^18 (U)When she saw that she ^[f]was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

¹⁹ Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that ^(V)all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, ^(W)“Is this Naomi?”

²⁰ But she said to them, “Do not call me ^[g]Naomi; call me ^[h]Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. ²¹ I went out full, ^(X)and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and ^[i]the Almighty has afflicted me?”

²² So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem ^(Y)at the beginning of barley harvest.

All for Christ

3 Finally, my brethren, ^(A)rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.

^2 (B)Beware of dogs, beware of ^(C)evil workers, ^(D)beware of the mutilation! ³ For we are ^(E)the circumcision, ^(F)who worship ^[a]God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, ⁴ though ^(G)I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I ^(H)more so: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, ^(I)of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(J)a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, ^(K)a Pharisee; ⁶ concerning zeal, ^(L)persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

⁷ But ^(M)what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. ⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss ^(N)for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having ^(O)my own righteousness, which is from the law, but ^(P)that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the ^(Q)power of His resurrection, and ^(R)the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹ if, by any means, I may ^(S)attain^[b] to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing Toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already ^(T)attained,^[c] or am already ^(U)perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have ^[d]apprehended; but one thing I do, ^(V)forgetting those things which are behind and ^(W)reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ^14 (X)I press toward the goal for the prize of ^(Y)the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Therefore let us, as many as are ^(Z)mature, ^(AA)have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, ^(AB)God will reveal even this to you. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already ^[e]attained, ^(AC)let us walk ^(AD)by the same ^[f]rule, let us be of the same mind.