King James Version › Daniel › 5

Daniel

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1 Bels­haz­zar the king made a great feast to a thou­sand of his lords, and drank wine be­fore the thou­sand. 2 Bels­haz­zar, whiles he tast­ed the wine, com­mand­ed to bring the gold­en and sil­ver ves­sels which his fa­ther Neb­uchad­nez­zar had tak­en out of the tem­ple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his con­cu­bines, might drink there­in. 3 Then they brought the gold­en ves­sels that were tak­en out of the tem­ple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his con­cu­bines, drank in them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of sil­ver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. 5 In the same hour came forth fin­gers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the can­dle­stick upon the plais­ter of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king's coun­te­nance was changed, and his thoughts trou­bled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against an­oth­er. 7 The king cried aloud to bring in the as­trologers, the Chaldeans, and the sooth­say­ers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Baby­lon, Whoso­ev­er shall read this writ­ing, and shew me the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of, shall be clothed with scar­let, 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 there­of. 9 Then was king Bels­haz­zar great­ly trou­bled, and his coun­te­nance was changed in him, and his lords were as­tonied. 10 Now the queen, by rea­son of the words of the king and his lords, came into the ban­quet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ev­er: let not thy thoughts trou­ble thee, nor let thy coun­te­nance be changed: 11 There is a man in thy king­dom, in whom is the spir­it of the holy gods; and in the days of thy fa­ther light and un­der­stand­ing and wis­dom, like the wis­dom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Neb­uchad­nez­zar thy fa­ther, the king, I say, thy fa­ther, made mas­ter of the ma­gi­cians, as­trologers, Chaldeans, and sooth­say­ers; 12 Foras­much as an ex­cel­lent spir­it, and knowl­edge, and un­der­stand­ing, in­ter­pret­ing of dreams, and shew­ing of hard sen­tences, and dis­solv­ing of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Bel­te­s­haz­zar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 13 Then was Daniel brought in be­fore the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the chil­dren of the cap­tiv­i­ty of Ju­dah, whom the king my fa­ther brought out of Jew­ry? 14 I have even heard of thee, that the spir­it of the gods is in thee, and that light and un­der­stand­ing and ex­cel­lent wis­dom is found in thee. 15 And now the wise men, the as­trologers, have been brought in be­fore me, that they should read this writ­ing, and make known unto me the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of: but they could not shew the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of the thing: 16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make in­ter­pre­ta­tions, and dis­solve doubts: now if thou canst read the writ­ing, and make known to me the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of, thou shalt be clothed with scar­let, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the king­dom. 17 Then Daniel an­swered and said be­fore the king, Let thy gifts be to thy­self, and give thy re­wards to an­oth­er; yet I will read the writ­ing unto the king, and make known to him the in­ter­pre­ta­tion. 18 O thou king, the most high God gave Neb­uchad­nez­zar thy fa­ther a king­dom, and majesty, and glo­ry, and hon­our: 19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all peo­ple, na­tions, and lan­guages, trem­bled and feared be­fore him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 20 But when his heart was lift­ed up, and his mind hard­ened in pride, he was de­posed from his king­ly throne, and they took his glo­ry from him: 21 And he was driv­en from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild ass­es: they fed him with grass like ox­en, and his body was wet with the dew of heav­en; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the king­dom of men, and that he ap­pointeth over it whom­so­ev­er he will. 22 And thou his son, O Bels­haz­zar, hast not hum­bled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 23 But hast lift­ed up thy­self against the Lord of heav­en; and they have brought the ves­sels of his house be­fore thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy con­cu­bines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of sil­ver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glo­ri­fied: 24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writ­ing was writ­ten. 25 And this is the writ­ing that was writ­ten, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UP­HARSIN. 26 This is the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of the thing: MENE; God hath num­bered thy king­dom, and fin­ished it. 27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the bal­ances, and art found want­ing. 28 PERES; Thy king­dom is di­vid­ed, and giv­en to the Medes and Per­sians. 29 Then com­mand­ed Bels­haz­zar, and they clothed Daniel with scar­let, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a procla­ma­tion con­cern­ing him, that he should be the third ruler in the king­dom. 30 In that night was Bels­haz­zar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31 And Dar­ius the Me­di­an took the king­dom, being about three­score and two years old.