Daniel 5:13-26

Daniel Interprets Handwriting on the Wall

13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the ¹exiles * from Judah, whom my father the king ²brought from Judah?

14 "Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you.

15 "Just now the ³wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they ⁴could not declare the interpretation of the message.

16 "But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its ⁵interpretation known to me, you will be ⁶clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom."

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, "Keep your ⁷gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him.

18 "O king, the ⁸Most High God ⁹granted sovereignty, ¹⁰grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father.

19 "Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him; ¹¹whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled.

20 "But when his heart was ¹²lifted up and his spirit became so ¹³proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was ¹⁴deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him.

21 "He was also ¹⁵driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the ¹⁶wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until * he recognized that the ¹⁷Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever * He wishes.

22 "Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have ¹⁸not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this,

23 but you have ¹⁹exalted yourself against the ²⁰Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the ²¹gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God ²²in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways²³, you have not glorified.

24 "Then the ²⁴hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out.

25 "Now this is the inscription that was written out: 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.'

26 "This is the interpretation of the message: 'MENE '-God has numbered your kingdom and ²⁵put an end to it.

Daniel 5:13-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 5

This chapter gives an account of a feast made by King Belshazzar, attended with drunkenness, idolatry, and profanation of the vessels taken out of the temple at Jerusalem, Da 5:1-4, and of the displeasure of God, signified by a handwriting on the wall, which terrified the king, and caused him to send in haste for the astrologers to read and interpret it, but they could not, Da 5:5-8, in this distress, which appeared in the countenances of him and his nobles, the queen mother advises him to send for Daniel, of whom she gives a great encomium, Da 5:9-12, upon which he was brought in to the king, and promised a great reward to read and interpret the writing; the reward he slighted, but promised to read and interpret the writing, Da 5:13-17 and after putting him in mind of what had befallen his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, and charging him with pride, idolatry, and profanation of the vessels of the Lord, Da 5:18-23 reads and interprets the writing to him Da 5:24-28, when he had honour done him, and was preferred in the government, Da 5:29 and the chapter is concluded with an account of the immediate accomplishment of ancient prophecies, and of this handwriting, in the slaying of the king of Babylon, in the dissolution of the Babylonish monarchy, and the possession of it by Darius the Mede, Da 5:30,31.

Cross References

• 1. Ezra 4:1; Ezra 6:16, 19, 20; Daniel 2:25; Daniel 6:13
• 2. Daniel 1:1, 2
• 3. Daniel 5:7
• 4. Isaiah 47:12; Daniel 5:8
• 5. Genesis 40:8
• 6. Daniel 5:7, 29
• 7. 2 Kings 5:16
• 8. Daniel 4:2; Daniel 5:21
• 9. Daniel 2:37, 38; Daniel 4:17
• 10. Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 27:5-7
• 11. Daniel 2:12, 13; Daniel 3:6; Daniel 11:3, 16, 36
• 12. Exodus 9:17; Job 15:25; Isaiah 14:13-15; Daniel 4:30, 31
• 13. 2 Kings 17:14; 2 Chronicles 36:13
• 14. Job 40:11, 12; Jeremiah 13:18
• 15. Job 30:3-7; Daniel 4:32, 33
• 16. Job 39:5-8
• 17. Exodus 9:14-16; Psalms 83:17, 18; Ezekiel 17:24; Dan 4:17, 34, 35
• 18. Exodus 10:3; 2 Chronicles 33:23; 2 Chronicles 36:12
• 19. 2 Kings 14:10; Isaiah 2:12; Isaiah 37:23; Jeremiah 50:29; Daniel 5:3, 4
• 20. Daniel 4:37
• 21. Psalms 115:4-8; Isaiah 37:19; Habakkuk 2:18, 19
• 22. Job 12:10
• 23. Job 31:4; Psalms 139:3; Proverbs 20:24; Jeremiah 10:23
• 24. Daniel 5:5
• 25. Is 13:6, 17-19; Jeremiah 50:41-43

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "sons of the exile"
• [b]. Or possibly "the Spirit of God"
• [c]. Lit "word"
• [d]. Or "triumvir"
• [e]. Lit "Let...be for"
• [f]. Lit "You, O king"
• [g]. Or "the kingdom"
• [h]. Lit "tongue"
• [i]. Lit "strong"
• [j]. Lit "the sons of man"
• [k]. Or "descendant"
• [l]. Lit "inasmuch as you"
• [m]. Lit "palm of the hand"
• [n]. Or "a mina" (50 shekels) from verb ``to number''
• [o]. Or "a mina" (50 shekels) from verb ``to number''
• [p]. Or "a shekel" from verb ``to weigh''
• [q]. Or "and half-shekels" (sing: "peres") from verb ``to divide''
• [r]. Lit "word"