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The Blue Letter Bible

Daniel 5 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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The Writing on the Wall

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:1

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:1 - Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:2

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:2 - While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor,[fn] Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:3

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:3 - So they brought these gold cups taken from the Temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:4

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:4 - While they drank from them they praised their idols made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:5

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:5 - Suddenly, they saw the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster wall of the king’s palace, near the lampstand. The king himself saw the hand as it wrote,

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:6

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:6 - and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:7

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:7 - The king shouted for the enchanters, astrologers,[fn] and fortune-tellers to be brought before him. He said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed in purple robes of royal honor and will have a gold chain placed around his neck. He will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:8

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:8 - But when all the king’s wise men had come in, none of them could read the writing or tell him what it meant.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:9

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:9 - So the king grew even more alarmed, and his face turned pale. His nobles, too, were shaken.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:10

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:10 - But when the queen mother heard what was happening, she hurried to the banquet hall. She said to Belshazzar, “Long live the king! Don’t be so pale and frightened.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:11

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:11 - There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom like that of the gods. Your predecessor, the king—your predecessor King Nebuchadnezzar—made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:12

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:12 - This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has exceptional ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”
Daniel Explains the Writing

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:13

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:13 - So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king asked him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles brought from Judah by my predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar?

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:14

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:14 - I have heard that you have the spirit of the gods within you and that you are filled with insight, understanding, and wisdom.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:15

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:15 - My wise men and enchanters have tried to read the words on the wall and tell me their meaning, but they cannot do it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:16

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:16 - I am told that you can give interpretations and solve difficult problems. If you can read these words and tell me their meaning, you will be clothed in purple robes of royal honor, and you will have a gold chain placed around your neck. You will become the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:17

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:17 - Daniel answered the king, “Keep your gifts or give them to someone else, but I will tell you what the writing means.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:18

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:18 - Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:19

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:19 - He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wanted to kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wanted to honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:20

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:20 - But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:21

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:21 - He was driven from human society. He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:22

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:22 - “You are his successor,[fn] O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:23

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:23 - For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:24

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:24 - So God has sent this hand to write this message.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:25

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:25 - “This is the message that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:26

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:26 - This is what these words mean:
Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:27

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:27 - Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:28

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:28 - Parsin[fn] means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:29

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:29 - Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, a gold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:30

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:30 - That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian[fn] king, was killed.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Dan 5:31

Unchecked Copy BoxDan 5:31 - [fn]And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Aramaic father; also in 5:11, 13, 18.
Or Chaldeans; also in 5:11.
Aramaic son.
Aramaic Peres, the singular of Parsin.
Or Chaldean.
The Persians and Medes conquered Babylon in October 539 B.C.
Verse 5:31 is numbered 6:1 in Aramaic text.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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Daniel Chapter 5 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras