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

²³ Immediately ^(A)an angel of the Lord struck him down, because ^(B)he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

¹⁸ O king, the ^(A)Most High God ^(B)gave ^(C)Nebuchadnezzar your father ^(D)kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. ¹⁹ And because of the greatness that he gave him, ^(E)all peoples, nations, and languages ^(F)trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. ²⁰ But ^(G)when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, ^(H)he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. ^21 (I)He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, ^(J)until he knew that the ^(K)Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. ²² And you his son,^{[a] (L)}Belshazzar, ^(M)have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, ²³ but you have lifted up yourself against ^(N)the Lord of heaven. And ^(O)the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. ^(P)And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, ^(Q)but the God in whose hand is your breath, and ^(R)whose are all your ways, ^(S)you have not honored.

²⁴ “Then from his presence ^(T)the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 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^[b] the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; ²⁷ Tekel, ^(U)you have been weighed^[c] in the balances and found wanting; ²⁸ Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to ^(V)the Medes and ^(W)Persians.”^[d]

²⁹ Then ^(X)Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel ^(Y)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 (Z)That very night ^(AA)Belshazzar the ^(AB)Chaldean king was killed.

^5 (A)Immediately ^(B)the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw ^(C)the hand as it wrote. ^6 (D)Then the king's color changed, ^(E)and his thoughts alarmed him; ^(F)his limbs gave way, and ^(G)his knees knocked together.

³³ Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. ^(A)He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.

Exile Threatened