Daniel 5:1-16

The Writing on the Wall

1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.

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

3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.

6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

7 The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers^[b] and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.

9 So King Belshazzar became even more terrified and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.

10 The queen,^[c] hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “May the king live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale!

11 There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners.

12 He did this because Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”

13 So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?

14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom.

15 The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it.

16 Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:1-16 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. ver 30; Daniel 7:1; Daniel 8:1
• 2. S 1 Kings 3:15; Esther 1:3
• 3. Jeremiah 50:35
• 4. S Isaiah 21:5
• 5. S 2 Kings 24:13; S 2 Chronicles 36:10; S Jeremiah 52:19
• 6. S Esther 2:14
• 7. S Esther 1:7; Daniel 1:2
• 8. Judges 16:24
• 9. S Esther 1:10; Psalms 135:15-18; Habakkuk 2:19; Revelation 9:20
• 10. S Job 4:15
• 11. S Daniel 4:5
• 12. S Isaiah 7:2
• 13. S Psalms 22:14; Ezekiel 7:17
• 14. S Genesis 41:8
• 15. S Isaiah 19:3
• 16. Isaiah 44:25
• 17. Jeremiah 50:35; Daniel 4:6-7
• 18. S Genesis 41:42
• 19. Esther 10:3
• 20. Da 2:5-6,48; Daniel 6:2-3
• 21. S Exodus 8:18
• 22. S Daniel 2:10,27; S Daniel 4:18
• 23. S Psalms 48:5; S Isaiah 21:4
• 24. S Nehemiah 2:3; S Daniel 3:9
• 25. S Genesis 41:38; Da 4:8-9,19
• 26. ver 14; S Daniel 1:17
• 27. S Daniel 2:22
• 28. Daniel 2:47-48
• 29. S Daniel 1:7
• 30. S Numbers 12:8
• 31. ver 14-16; Daniel 6:3
• 32. S Ezekiel 28:3
• 33. S Esther 2:5-6; Daniel 6:13
• 34. S Genesis 41:38
• 35. S Daniel 2:22
• 36. S Daniel 4:18
• 37. S Genesis 41:15
• 38. S Genesis 41:42
• 39. S Esther 5:3; S Daniel 2:6

Footnotes

• [a] Or "ancestor" ; or "predecessor" ; also in verses 11, 13 and 18
• [b] Or "Chaldeans" ; also in verse 11
• [c] Or "queen mother"