¹⁸ And the king gave a great banquet,^(A) Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials.^(B) He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.^(C)

² While Belshazzar was drinking^(A) his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets^(B) that Nebuchadnezzar his father^[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines^(C) might drink from them.^(D)