Daniel 5:1

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ¹  prepared a great banquet ²  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ³  them all. ⁴ 

Daniel 2:14

2:14 Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel ⁵  to Arioch, who was in charge of the king’s executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 2:31

2:31 “You, O king, were watching as a great statue – one ⁶  of impressive size and extraordinary brightness – was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm.

Daniel 4:30

4:30 The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence ⁷  by my own mighty strength ⁸  and for my majestic honor?”

Daniel 7:2

7:2 Daniel explained: ⁹  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ¹⁰  the four winds of the sky ¹¹  were stirring up the great sea. ¹² 

Daniel 2:10

2:10 The wise men replied to the king, “There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king’s secret, ¹³  for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.

Daniel 2:45

2:45 You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. ¹⁴  The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.”

Daniel 2:48

2:48 Then the king elevated Daniel to high position and bestowed on him many marvelous gifts. He granted him authority over the entire province of Babylon and made him the main prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

Daniel 4:9

4:9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider ¹⁵  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation!

Daniel 5:11

5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have ¹⁶  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ¹⁷  of the gods. ¹⁸  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ¹⁹ 

Daniel 7:20

7:20 I also wanted to know ²⁰  the meaning of the ten horns on its head, and of that other horn which came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes ²¹  and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. ²² 

Daniel 2:35

2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction ²³  and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.

¹ sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

² sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

³ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

⁴ tn Aram “the thousand.”

⁵ tn Aram “returned prudence and counsel.” The expression is a hendiadys.

⁹ tn Aram “an image.”

¹³ tn Aram “house.”

¹⁴ tn Aram “by the might of my strength.”

¹⁷ tn Aram “answered and said.”

¹⁸ tn Aram “and behold.”

¹⁹ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

²⁰ sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.

²¹ tn Aram “matter, thing.”

²⁵ tn Aram “after this.”

²⁹ tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.

³³ tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

³⁴ tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

³⁵ tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

³⁶ tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.

³⁷ tn The words “I also wanted to know” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³⁸ tc The conjunction in the MT before “eyes” is odd. The ancient versions do not seem to presuppose it.

³⁹ tn Aram “greater than its companions.”

⁴¹ tn Aram “as one.” For the meaning “without distinction” see the following: F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 36, §64, and p. 93; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 60.