Daniel 5:2

2 Forsooth the king, then drunken, commanded that the golden and silveren vessels should be brought forth, which Nebuchadnezzar, his father , had borne out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, (so) that the king, and his best men, his wives, and his concubines, should drink in those vessels. (And then the king, now drunk, commanded that the gold and silver vessels should be brought forth, which Nebuchadnezzar, his predecessor, had carried out of the Temple that was in Jerusalem, so that the king, and his best men, and his wives, and his concubines, could drink out of those vessels.)

Daniel 5:2 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 5:2

Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine
As he was drinking his cups, and delighted with the taste of the wine, and got merry with it: or, "by the advice of the wine" ^F8, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret it, by a personification; as if that dictated to him, and put him upon doing what follows; and which often puts both foolish and wicked things into the heads of men, and upon doing them: then he commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels, which his father
Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem;
what these vessels were, and the number of them, we learn from the delivery of them afterwards to the prince of Judah by Cyrus, ( Ezra 1:9-11 ) , these were put into the temple of Bel by Nebuchadnezzar, ( Daniel 1:2 ) and from thence they were now ordered to be brought to the king's palace, and to the apartment where he and his nobles were drinking: that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might
drink therein;
Saadiah says, this day the seventy years' captivity ended; and so, in contempt of the promise and prophecy of it, he ordered the vessels to be brought out and drank in, to show that in vain the Jews expected redemption from it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (armx Mejb) "vino dictante", Tigurine version.

Daniel 5:2 In-Context

1 (Years later,) Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast to his best men a thousand, and each man drank after his age. (Years later, King Belshazzar had a great feast for a thousand of his best men, and they all drank together.)

2 Forsooth the king, then drunken, commanded that the golden and silveren vessels should be brought forth, which Nebuchadnezzar, his father , had borne out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, (so) that the king, and his best men, his wives, and his concubines, should drink in those vessels. (And then the king, now drunk, commanded that the gold and silver vessels should be brought forth, which Nebuchadnezzar, his predecessor, had carried out of the Temple that was in Jerusalem, so that the king, and his best men, and his wives, and his concubines, could drink out of those vessels.)

3 Then the golden vessels and silveren, which he had borne out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, were brought forth; and the king, and his best men, and his wives, and his concubines, drank in those vessels. (Then the gold and silver vessels, which had been carried out of the Temple that was in Jerusalem, were brought forth; and the king, and his best men, and his wives, and his concubines, drank from those vessels.)

4 They drank wine, and praised their gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, and of iron, and of tree, and of stone. (They drank wine, and praised their gods made of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and wood, and stone.)

5 In the same hour fingers appeared, as of the hand of a man, writing (over) against the candlestick, in the plain part of the wall of the king's hall; and the king beheld the fingers of the hand (that was) writing. (In the same hour fingers appeared, like a man's hand, writing opposite the lamp, on the plain part of the wall of the king's hall; and the king watched the fingers of the hand that was writing.)