Daniel 5:22

22 “You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.

Daniel 5:22 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 5:22

And thou his son, O Belshazzar
His grandson; (See Gill on Daniel 5:1): hast not humbled thine heart;
so as to acknowledge the most high God, and his dependence on him; to own him as his Sovereign, by whom he held his crown and kingdom, and to whom he was accountable; but, on the contrary, lifted up his heart in pride and haughtiness against him: though thou knewest all this;
either by the relation of others, his father and mother, and others; or being an eyewitness of it himself; wherefore his sin was the more aggravated, since he had had an example before him of pride being humbled in a very awful manner, and yet took no warning by it.

Daniel 5:22 In-Context

20 But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

21 He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

22 “You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.

23 For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!

24 So God has sent this hand to write this message.

Footnotes

• [a]. Aramaic son.