(A)In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

Read full chapter

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.

Read full chapter

24 Then the [a]fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.

25 “And this is the inscription that was written:

[b]MENE, MENE, [c]TEKEL, [d]UPHARSIN.

26 This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; 27 TEKEL: (A)You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; 28 PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the (B)Medes and (C)Persians.”[e] 29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him (D)that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Daniel 5:24 Lit. palm
  2. Daniel 5:25 Lit. a mina (50 shekels) from the verb “to number”
  3. Daniel 5:25 Lit. a shekel from the verb “to weigh”
  4. Daniel 5:25 Lit. and half-shekels from the verb “to divide”; pl. of Peres, v. 28
  5. Daniel 5:28 Aram. Paras, consonant with Peres

24 Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

25 “This is the inscription that was written:

mene, mene, tekel, parsin

26 “Here is what these words mean:

Mene[a]: God has numbered the days(A) of your reign and brought it to an end.(B)

27 Tekel[b]: You have been weighed on the scales(C) and found wanting.(D)

28 Peres[c]: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes(E) and Persians.”(F)

29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck,(G) and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.(H)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Daniel 5:26 Mene can mean numbered or mina (a unit of money).
  2. Daniel 5:27 Tekel can mean weighed or shekel.
  3. Daniel 5:28 Peres (the singular of Parsin) can mean divided or Persia or a half mina or a half shekel.