Daniel 5:22-31

22 And thou accordingly, his son, O Baltasar, has not humbled thine heart before God: knowest thou not all this?

23 And thou has been exalted against the Lord God of heaven; and they have brought before thee the vessels of his house, and thou, and thy nobles, and thy mistresses, and thy concubines, have drunk wine out of them; and thou has praised the gods of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and wood, and stone, which see not, and which hear not, and know not: and the God in whose hand are thy breath, and all thy ways has thou not glorified.

24 Therefore from his presence has been sent forth the knuckle of a hand; and he has ordered the writing.

25 And this is the ordered writing, Mane, Thekel, Phares.

26 This is the interpretation of the sentence: Mane; God has measured thy kingdom, and finished it.

27 Thekel; it has been weighed in the balance, and found wanting.

28 Phares; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

29 Then Baltasar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put the golden chain about his neck, and proclaimed concerning him that he was the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 In the same night was Baltasar the Chaldean king slain.

31 And Darius the Mede succeeded to the kingdom, being sixty-two years .

Daniel 5:22-31 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.