³³ Immediately the sentence was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven away from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails became like birds’ claws.^(A)

¹⁸ to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders—flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.”^(A)

²³ And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.^(A)

¹⁸ As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar kingship, greatness, glory, and majesty.^{(A) 19} And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed those he wanted to kill, kept alive those he wanted to keep alive, honored those he wanted to honor, and degraded those he wanted to degrade.^{(B) 20} But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he acted proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and his glory was stripped from him.^{(C) 21} He was driven from human society, and his mind was made like that of an animal. His dwelling was with the wild asses, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals and sets over it whomever he will.^{(D) 22} And you, Belshazzar his son, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this!^{(E) 23} You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven! The vessels of his temple have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose power is your very breath and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honored.^(F)

²⁴ “So from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed.^{(G) 25} And this is the writing that was inscribed: mene,^[a] tekel, and parsin. ²⁶ This is the interpretation of the matter: mene: God has numbered the days of^[b] your kingdom and brought it to an end;^{(H) 27} tekel: you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;^{(I) 28} peres:^[c] your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed in purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made concerning him that he should rank third in the kingdom.

³⁰ That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed.^(J)

The Writing on the Wall

⁵ Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace, next to the lampstand. The king was watching the hand as it wrote.^{(A) 6} Then the king’s face turned pale, and his thoughts terrified him. His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.^(B)