1 King ^oBelshazzar ^pmade a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the ^qvessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father¹ had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of ^rgold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

5 ^sImmediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then ^tthe king’s color changed, and ^uhis thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king ^vcalled loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared² to the wise men of Babylon, ^w“Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be ^xclothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but ^ythey could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.

10 The queen,³ because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, ^zlive forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. 11 There is a man in your kingdom ^ain whom is the spirit of the holy gods.⁴ In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him ^bchief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, 12 because an ^cexcellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, ^dwhom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”