Daniel 5:1-8 ▼

1 Belshazzar the king held a great feast for one thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand.

2 When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he said to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.

3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand came out and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.

6 Then the splendor of the king’s face changed, and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack, and his knees were knocking against each other.

7 The king called out loudly to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners. The king answered and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this writing and declare its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck and rule with power as third ruler in the kingdom.”

8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known its interpretation to the king.