Daniel 5:3-5

5:3 So they brought the gold and silver ¹  vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God ²  in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them. 5:4 As they drank wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared ³  and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. ⁴  The king was watching the back ⁵  of the hand that was writing.

Daniel 5:23

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ⁶  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ⁷  your very breath and all your ways!

[5:3]  ¹ tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.

[5:3]  ² tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”

[5:5]  ³ tn Aram “came forth.”

[5:5]  ⁴ sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.

[5:5]  ⁵ tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.

[5:23]  ⁶ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ⁷ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”