Daniel 5:1-8 ▼

1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

2 Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his secondary wives, might drink from them.

3 Then they brought the gold and silver vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his secondary wives, drank from them.

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

5 In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

6 Then the king's face was turned pale, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs gave way, and his knees began knocking together.

7 The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, |Whoever shall read this writing, and show me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.|

8 Then came in all the king's wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation.