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^[a] the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel, ^(A)you have been weighed^[b] in the balances and found wanting; ²⁸ Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to ^(B)the Medes and ^(C)Persians.”^[c]

²⁹ Then ^(D)Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel ^(E)was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

^30 (F)That very night ^(G)Belshazzar the ^(H)Chaldean king was killed.

¹¹ And ^(A)the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, ¹² cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, ¹³ cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.^[a]

^15 (B)The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, ^(C)will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

And ^(G)all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off ¹⁸ and ^(H)cried out ^(I)as they saw the smoke of her burning,

¹⁹ And they threw ^(K)dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

^43 (A)And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to ^(B)hell,^[a] to ^(C)the unquenchable fire.^{[b] 45 (D)}And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into ^(E)hell. ^47 (F)And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into ^(G)hell, ⁴⁸ ‘where ^(H)their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

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.

²⁰ They shall fall amid those ^(C)who are slain by the sword. Egypt^[a] is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and ^(D)all her multitudes.

^13 (A)And I will stop the music of your songs, and ^(B)the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.

²⁴ “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For ^(A)their worm shall not die, ^(B)their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”