Daniel 5:1-12

New American Standard Bible

Belshazzar’s Feast

5 Belshazzar the king ^[a]held a great ^(A)feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. ^2 [b]While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring the gold and silver ^(B)vessels which his ^[c]father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines could drink out of 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 out of them. ⁴ They ^(C)drank the wine and praised the gods of ^(D)gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

⁵ Suddenly the fingers of a human hand emerged 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 king’s ^[d](E)face became pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his ^(F)hip joints ^[e]loosened and his ^(G)knees began knocking together. ⁷ The king called aloud to bring in the ^(H)sorcerers, the ^[f]Chaldeans, and the diviners. The king began speaking and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Anyone who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be ^(I)clothed with purple and have a ^(J)necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as ^(K)third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸ Then all the king’s wise men came in, but ^(L)they could not read the inscription or make known its interpretation to the king. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^(M)alarmed, his ^[g](N)face grew even more pale, and his nobles were perplexed.

¹⁰ The queen entered the banquet ^[h]hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen began to speak and said, “^(O)O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your ^[i]face be pale. ¹¹ There is a ^(P)man in your kingdom in whom is ^[j]a ^(Q)spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father ^[k](R)the king—appointed him chief of the soothsayer priests, sorcerers, Chaldeans, and diviners. ¹² This was because an ^(S)extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of riddles, and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named ^(T)Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.”