Daniel 5:16-29

16But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its 1interpretation known to me, you will be 2clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the 3third ruler in the kingdom.”

17Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “4Keep your 5gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. 186O king, the 7Most High God 8granted 9sovereignty, 10grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. 19Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every 11language feared and trembled before him; 12whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled. 20But when his heart was 13lifted up and his spirit became so 1415proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was 16deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. 21He was also 17driven away from 18mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the 19wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the 20Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes. 22Yet you, his 21son, Belshazzar, have 22not humbled your heart, 23even though you knew all this, 23but you have 24exalted yourself against the 25Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the 26gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God 27in whose hand are your life-breath and all your 28ways, you have not glorified. 24Then the 2930hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out.

25“Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘31Menē, 32Menē, 33Tekēl, 34Upharsin.’ 26This is the interpretation of the 35message: ‘Menē’--God has numbered your kingdom and 36put an end to it. 27‘Tekēl’--you have been 37weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28‘Perēs’--your kingdom has been divided and given over to the 38Medes and 39Persians.”

29Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they 40clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the 41third ruler in the kingdom.