Daniel 5:13-31 ▼

13 Then was Daniel brought before the king: so the king spake vnto Daniel, and sayde, Art thou that Daniel, whiche art of the children of the captiuitie of Iuda, whom my father the king brought out of Iurie?

14 I haue hearde of thee, that thou hast the spirite of the holy gods, & that light and vnderstanding, and excellent wysdome is founde in thee.

15 Now haue there ben brought before me wyse men and soothsayers to reade this wryting, and to shewe me the interpretation therof: but they could not declare the interpretation of the thing.

16 Then hearde I of thee that thou couldest shewe interpretations, and dissolue doubtes: nowe if thou canst reade his writing, & shew me the meaning therof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and haue a cheyne of gold about thy necke, & be the thirde ruler in the kingdome.

17 Then Daniel aunswered, and sayd before the king, As for thy rewardes, kepe them to thy selfe, and geue thy giftes to another: yet I wil reade the writing vnto the king, and shewe him the interpretation.

18 O thou king, the most high god gaue vnto Nabuchodonozor thy father a kingdome, and maiestie, and honour, & glorie.

19 And for the maiestie that he gaue him, al people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: he slue whom he would, he smote whom it pleased him: againe, whom he would he set vp, and whom he list he put downe.

20 But because his heart was loftie, and his minde strengthened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they toke his glory from him.

21 He was driuen out from the sonnes of men, his heart was made lyke the beastes, and his dwelling was with the wilde Asses, they fed him with grasse lyke Oxen, and his body was wet with the deawe of the heauen, till he knewe that the most hie God bare rule ouer the kingdome of men, and that he appoynteth ouer it whom so euer he pleaseth.

22 And thou his sonne, O Balthasar, hast not submitted thyne heart, though thou knewest all these thinges:

23 But hast lift vp thy selfe against the Lorde of heauen, so that the vessels of his house were brought before thee, that thou and thy princes, with thy wyues and concubines, might drinke wine thereout: and thou hast praysed the gods of siluer and golde, of brasse and iron, of wood and stone, which neither see, heare, nor vnderstand: As for the God in whose hande consisteth thy breath and all thy wayes, thou hast not glorified him.

24 Then was the knockles of the hand sent from him, and hath written this writing.

25 And this the writing that he hath writte: MENE MENE, THECEL, VPHARSIN.

26 Now the interpretation of the thing is this: MENE, God hath numbred thy kingdome, and brought it to an ende.

27 THECEL, thou art wayed in the balauce, and art founde wanting.

28 PHERES, thy kingdome is deuided, and geuen to the Medes, and Perses.

29 Then commaunded Balthasar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and a chayne of golde about is necke, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdome.

30 The very same night was Balthasar the king of the Chaldees slaine.

31 And Darius of the Medes toke the kingdome, being threescore & two yeres of age.