King Belshazzar has a big party
5:1Nebuchadnezzar had died. Now Belshazzar was the king.
1 King Belshazzar prepared a big party for 1,000 important people in his country. He drank wine with all of them. 2 When he had drunk a lot of wine, he spoke to his servants. He commanded them to bring the valuable gold and silver cups, so that the people could drink from them. His father, King Nebuchadnezzar, had taken those cups from God's temple in Jerusalem. King Belshazzar wanted to drink from them, as well as his important friends, his wives and his other women.
3 So his servants brought the gold and silver cups that had come from God's temple in Jerusalem. Then the king, his wives, his other women and all the important people drank wine from those cups. 4 While they drank the wine, they praised their gods. Their gods were idols that were made from gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.
A hand writes a message on the palace wall
5 While they were doing that, the fingers of a human hand appeared. They wrote on the wall of the king's palace, near the light that stood in the room. The king watched the hand while it wrote. 6 When he saw it, his face became white. He was very afraid. His knees shook and his legs became weak.
7 The king called for his enchanters, his wise men and his diviners to come. When they arrived, the king said to them, ‘Who can read these words? Who can tell me what they mean? Whoever can do that, I will make him great. I will put valuable purple clothes on him and he will have a gold chain around his neck. I will make him the third ruler in the kingdom.’
5:7An enchanter tries to make things happen by speaking magic words.
5:7Belshazzar ruled under the authority of Nabonidus, but Nabonidus did not live in Babylon. Belshazzar was probably the second ruler, under the authority of Nabonidus.
8 Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the words. They could not tell the king what the words meant. 9 So King Belshazzar became even more afraid. His face became even whiter. His officers did not know what to do.
