Daniel 5:4

Daniel 5:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
• New International Version (NIV)As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
• New King James Version (NKJV)They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

Context of Daniel 5:4

2When 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. 3So 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. While they drank the wine, they praised their gods. Their gods were idols that were made from gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. 5While 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. 6When he saw it, his face became white. He was very afraid. His knees shook and his legs became weak.

Daniel 5:4 word by word

אִשְׁתִּ֖יו חַמְרָ֑א וְ֠שַׁבַּחוּ לֵֽאלָהֵ֞י דַּהֲבָ֧א וְכַסְפָּ֛א נְחָשָׁ֥א פַרְזְלָ֖א אָעָ֥א וְאַבְנָֽא׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• They drankשְׁתָהshethâh · to drinkH8355
• wineחֲמַרchămar · wineH2562
• and praisedשְׁבַחshebach · to praiseH7624
• the godsאֱלָהּ'ĕlâhh · godH426
• of goldדְּהַבdehab · goldH1722
• and of silverכְּסַףkesaph · silverH3702
• of brassנְחָשׁnechâsh · bronzeH5174
• of ironפַּרְזֶלparzel · ironH6523
• of woodאָע'â‛ · woodH636
• and of stoneאֶ֫בֶן'eben · stoneH69

Cross-references for Daniel 5:4

• Daniel 5:23You thought that you were greater than the Lord of heaven. So you told your servants to bring the valuable cups that belong to God's temple. You yourself, your wives, your other women and your important friends drank wine from those cups. You praised your gods that were made from silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone. Those are idols that cannot see or hear. They cannot understand anything. But you worshipped them instead of the true God. He is the God who gives life to you. He has power over everything that you do.
• Daniel 4:37Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise the King of heaven as a great God. He always does what is right and fair. When people are proud, he can cause them to become humble.
• Judges 16:23One day, the rulers of the Philistines met together to have a big feast. They offered a great sacrifice to their god, Dagon. They said, ‘Dagon has put our enemy, Samson, under our power.’
• Isaiah 42:8I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not let anyone else share my glory. I will not let people praise idols. I am the only one that they must praise.
• Hosea 2:8She did not realize that I was the one who gave her everything that she needed. I gave her grain, wine and olive oil. I even gave her lots of silver and gold. But she used my gifts to worship Baal instead of me.
• Revelation 9:20But all the people that the fire, the smoke and the sulphur did not kill continued to do bad things. They did not change how they lived. They worshipped things that they had made for themselves. They worshipped demons and idols that they made from gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. Those idols cannot see anything or hear anything. They cannot walk anywhere. But the people continued to worship them.
• Daniel 3:1King Nebuchadnezzar caused his workers to make a gold statue. It was 30 metres high and 3 metres wide. He built it on the flat land called Dura, in the Babylon region.
• Psalms 115:4Those people's idols are made from silver and gold. Yes, human hands make them!
• Psalms 135:15Other nations make idols with silver and gold. People worship things that they have made with their hands!
• Isaiah 40:19A worker may use special skill to make an idol. Another worker may cover it with gold. He may use silver chains to make it beautiful.
• Isaiah 42:17But I will push away people who trust idols to help them. Those people will become ashamed. They say to images that they have made, “You are our gods.”
• Isaiah 46:6Some people make idols for themselves. They pour out gold coins from their purse. They weigh silver on their scales. They pay a worker with special skill to use the silver and the gold to make a god. Then they bend down low in front of it, and they worship it!
• Jeremiah 10:4He covers it with silver and gold to make it look beautiful. He uses nails to fix it together so that it will not fall down.
• Habakkuk 2:19It will be very bad for anyone who says to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” It will be bad for anyone who says to a stone that cannot speak, “Get up and help me!” It cannot teach you! It has gold or silver to make it look nice, but it is not alive.
• Acts 17:29So, because we are God's children, we should not think that he is a thing like an idol. Clever people use gold or silver or stone to make images of gods. But God is not like these things that people choose to make for themselves.
• Acts 19:24In Ephesus there was a man called Demetrius. He used silver to make beautiful things. He made models that looked like the temple of Artemis. He paid a lot of money to people who did this work for him.

Commentaries on Daniel 5:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4And praised the gods of gold - They had gods of all sorts, and of all metals; with wooden gods, and stone gods, beside!Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-4The gold and silver cups from the temple in Jerusalem were taken along with the people (Daniel 1:2), but earlier Babylonian kings did not misuse them. They were eventually returned to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:7–11). father: Belshazzar was Nabonidus's oldest son; his connection to Nebuchadnezzar is unclear. As they drank the wine, they praised their gods: If Belshazzar ever knew about the respect Nebuchadnezzar showed the Most High God decades earlier (Daniuel…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. praised--sang and shouted praises to "gods," which being of gold, "are their own witnesses" (Is 44:9), confuting the folly of those who fancy such to be gods.Read the comment

Topics related to Daniel 5:4

• Belshazzar
• Brass
• Drunkenness
• Feasts
• Idolatry
• Iron
• King
• Wicked (People)
• Women

In the dictionaries

• Gift
• Light
• Loose
• Wine
• Aramaic; Aramaic Language
• Baruch, Book of
• Bible, the
• Daniel, Book of
• Gods
• Iron (1)

Commentaries on Daniel 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings