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 third ruler in the kingdom.”

17Then Daniel replied and said before the king, “3Keep your 4gifts 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. 185O king, the 6Most High God 7granted 8sovereignty, 9greatness, honor, and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. 19Now because of the greatness which He granted him, all the peoples, nations, and populations of all 10languages trembled and feared in his presence; 11whomever 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 12was 13arrogant and his spirit became so 1415overbearing that he behaved presumptuously, he was 16deposed from his royal throne, and his dignity was taken away from him. 21He was also 17driven away from 18mankind, and his heart was made like that of animals, 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, even though you knew all this, 23but you have 23risen up against the 24Lord 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 out of them; and you have praised the 25gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, nor hear, nor understand. But the God 26in whose hand are your life-breath and all your 27ways, you have not glorified. 24Then the 2829hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out.

25“Now this is the inscription that was written: ‘30Menē, 31Menē, 32Tekēl, 33Upharsin.’ 26This is the interpretation of the 34message: ‘Menē’--God has numbered your kingdom and 35put an end to it. 27‘Tekēl’--you have been 36weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28‘37Perēs’--your kingdom has been divided and given 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 third ruler in the kingdom.