16
And I have heard of thee, that thou canstmakeinterpretations,[a] and dissolvedoubts:nowif thou canstread the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of goldabout thy neck, and shalt be the thirdruler in the kingdom.
17
ThenDanielanswered and saidbefore the king, Let thy giftsbe to thyself, and give thy rewards[b] to another;yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
18
O thouking, the most highGodgaveNebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
19
And for the majesty that he gave him, allpeople,nations, and languages,trembled* and fearedbeforehim: 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 mindhardened in pride,[c] he was deposedfrom his kinglythrone, and they took his glory from him:
21
And he was drivenfrom the sons of men; and his heart[d] was madelike 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 highGodruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointethover it whomsoever he will.
22
And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast nothumbled thine heart,though thou knewestallthis;
23
But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his housebefore thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunkwine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass,iron,wood, and stone, which seenot,norhear, norknow: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou notglorified:
24
Then was the part of the handsentfromhim; and thiswriting 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.