5:1 King Belshazzar 1 prepared a great banquet 2 for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of 3 them all. 4 5:2 While under the influence 5 of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father 6 had confiscated 7 from the temple in Jerusalem 8 – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. 9 5:3 So they brought the gold and silver 10 vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God 11 in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them. 5:4 As they drank wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared 12 and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. 13 The king was watching the back 14 of the hand that was writing. 5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face 15 and he became alarmed. 16 The joints of his hips gave way, 17 and his knees began knocking together. 5:7 The king called out loudly 18 to summon 19 the astrologers, wise men, and diviners. The king proclaimed 20 to the wise men of Babylon that anyone who could read this inscription and disclose its interpretation would be clothed in purple 21 and have a golden collar 22 placed on his neck and be third ruler in the kingdom.
5:8 So all the king’s wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its 23 interpretation to the king. 5:9 Then King Belshazzar was very terrified, and he was visibly shaken. 24 His nobles were completely dumbfounded.
5:10 Due to the noise 25 caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother 26 then entered the banquet room. She 27 said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken! 5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have 28 insight, discernment, and wisdom like that 29 of the gods. 30 King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. 31 5:12 Thus there was found in this man Daniel, whom the king renamed Belteshazzar, an extraordinary spirit, knowledge, and skill to interpret 32 dreams, solve riddles, and decipher knotty problems. 33 Now summon 34 Daniel, and he will disclose the interpretation.”
5:13 So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?