Daniel 5

ARC · Chapter 5/12

¹O rei Belshazzar deu um grande banquete aos seus mil grandes, e bebeu vinho na presença dos mil.

²Havendo Belshazzar provado o vinho, mandou trazer os vasos de oiro e de prata, que Nabucodonozor, seu pae, tinha tirado do templo que estava em Jerusalem, para que bebessem por elles o rei, e os seus grandes, as suas mulheres e concubinas.

³Então trouxeram os vasos de oiro, que foram tirados do templo da casa de Deus, que estava em Jerusalem, e beberam por elles o rei, os seus grandes, as suas mulheres e concubinas.

⁴Beberam o vinho, e deram louvores aos deuses de oiro, e de prata, de cobre, de ferro, de madeira, e de pedra.

⁵Na mesma hora sahiam uns dedos de mão de homem, e escreviam, defronte do castiçal, na caiadura da parede do palacio real; e o rei via a parte da mão que estava escrevendo.

⁶Então se mudou o semblante do rei, e os seus pensamentos o turbaram: as juntas dos seus lombos se relaxaram, e os seus joelhos bateram um no outro.

⁷E clamou o rei com força, que se introduzissem os astrologos, os chaldeos e os adivinhadores: e fallou o rei, e disse aos sabios de Babylonia: Qualquer que ler esta escriptura, e me declarar a sua interpretação, será vestido da purpura, e trará uma cadeia de oiro ao pescoço, e será, no reino, o terceiro dominador.

⁸Então entraram todos os sabios do rei; mas não poderam ler a escriptura, nem fazer saber ao rei a sua interpretação.

⁹Então o rei Belshazzar perturbou-se muito, e mudou-se n'elle o seu semblante; e os seus grandes estavam sobresaltados.

¹⁰A rainha, pois, por causa das palavras do rei e dos seus grandes, entrou na casa do banquete: e fallou a rainha, e disse: Ó rei, vive para sempre! não te turbem os teus pensamentos, nem se mude o teu semblante.

¹¹Ha um homem no teu reino, no qual ha o espirito dos deuses sanctos; e nos dias de teu pae se achou n'elle luz, e intelligencia, e sabedoria, como a sabedoria dos deuses; e teu pae, o rei Nabucodonozor, teu pae, ó rei, o constituiu chefe dos magos, dos astrologos, dos chaldeos, e dos adivinhadores;

¹²Porquanto se achou n'este Daniel um espirito excellente, e sciencia e entendimento, interpretando sonhos, e declarando enigmas, e solvendo duvidas, ao qual rei poz o nome de Belteshazzar: chame-se pois agora Daniel, e elle declarará a interpretação.

¹³Então Daniel foi introduzido á presença do rei. Fallou o rei, e disse a Daniel: És tu aquelle Daniel, dos captivos de Judah, que o rei, meu pae, trouxe de Judah?

¹⁴Porque tenho ouvido dizer a teu respeito que o espirito dos deuses está em ti, e que a luz, e o entendimento e a excellente sabedoria se acham em ti.

¹⁵E agora foram introduzidos á minha presença os sabios e os astrologos, para lerem esta escriptura, e me fazerem saber a sua interpretação; mas não poderam declarar a interpretação d'estas palavras.

¹⁶Eu porém tenho ouvido dizer de ti que podes dar interpretações e solver duvidas: agora, se poderes ler esta escriptura, e fazer-me saber a sua interpretação, serás vestido de purpura, e terás cadeia de oiro ao pescoço, e no reino serás o terceiro dominador.

¹⁷Então respondeu Daniel, e disse na presença do rei: Os teus dons fiquem comtigo, e dá os teus presentes a outro; comtudo lerei ao rei a escriptura, e lhe farei saber a interpretação.

¹⁸Quanto a ti, ó rei! Deus, o Altissimo, deu a Nabucodonozor, teu pae, o reino, e a grandeza, e a gloria, e a magnificencia.

¹⁹E por causa da grandeza, que lhe deu, todos os povos, nações e linguas tremiam e temiam diante d'elle: a quem queria matava, e a quem queria dava a vida; e a quem queria engrandecia, e a quem queria abatia.

²⁰Mas quando o seu coração se exalçou, e o seu espirito se endureceu em soberba, foi derribado do seu throno real, e passou d'elle a sua gloria.

²¹E foi lançado d'entre os filhos dos homens, e o seu coração foi feito similhante ao das bestas, e a sua morada foi com os jumentos montezes; fizeram-n'o comer a herva como os bois, e do orvalho do céu foi molhado o seu corpo, até que conheceu que Deus, o Altissimo, domina sobre os reinos dos homens, e a quem quer constitue sobre elles.

²²E tu, seu filho Belshazzar, não humilhaste o teu coração, ainda que soubeste tudo isto.

²³E te levantaste contra o Senhor do céu, pois trouxeram os vasos da casa d'elle perante ti, e tu, os teus grandes, as tuas mulheres e as tuas concubinas, bebestes vinho por elles; de mais d'isto, déste louvores aos deuses de prata, de oiro, de cobre, de ferro, de madeira e de pedra, que nem vêem, nem ouvem, nem sabem; mas a Deus, em cuja mão está a tua vida, e todos os teus caminhos, a elle não glorificaste.

²⁴Então d'elle foi enviada aquella parte da mão, e escreveu-se esta escriptura.

²⁵Esta pois é a escriptura que se escreveu: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

²⁶Esta é a interpretação d'aquillo: Mene: Contou Deus o teu reino, e o acabou.

²⁷Tekel: Pesado foste na balança, e foste achado em falta.

²⁸Peres: Dividido foi o teu reino, e deu-se aos medos e aos persas.

²⁹Então mandou Belshazzar que vestissem a Daniel de purpura, e que lhe pozessem uma cadeia de oiro ao pescoço, e proclamassem a respeito d'elle que havia de ser o terceiro dominador do reino.

³⁰Mas na mesma noite foi morto Belshazzar, rei dos chaldeos.

³¹E Dario, o medo, occupou o reino, sendo da edade de sessenta e dois annos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

King Belshazzar holds a profane banquet using the sacred vessels from the Jerusalem temple, when a mysterious hand writes on the wall words that only Daniel can interpret: Belshazzar's kingdom has been numbered, weighed, and divided. That very night, the king is killed and the kingdom falls to the Medes and Persians.

Explanation

The profane use of the sacred temple vessels, taken by Nebuchadnezzar decades earlier, represents the height of arrogance and spiritual disrespect, especially coming from someone who already knew the story of his predecessor's forced humbling (mentioned explicitly by Daniel in v.22). The mysterious writing ('Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin') uses words that were also names of units of weight and currency, creating a powerful wordplay: the king was literally being 'weighed' and found too light to continue reigning. Babylon's fall that very night to the Medo-Persian Empire is confirmed by independent historical records, showing how the announced judgment was fulfilled immediately, without delay.

Fun facts

Historical and archaeological records, including the Cyrus Cylinder and the Nabonidus Chronicle, confirm that Belshazzar was co-regent with his father Nabonidus, who was absent from the capital — which explains why Belshazzar could only offer the 'third place' in the kingdom (v.16), since the second place was already his own.
Babylon's fall to the Persians, led by the general Cyrus, is described by ancient historians such as Herodotus as having occurred through the diversion of the course of the Euphrates River, allowing troops to enter along the dry riverbed beneath the city walls.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Daniel 5:1Belshazzar, mentioned here as king, was in practice a co-regent while his father (or predecessor) Nabonidus was away from the capital — Babylonian records outside the Bible confirm this ruler’s historical existence.
Daniel 5:2Drinking wine from the gold vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, toasting gods of metal and wood, was a deliberate act of disrespect: using a conquered people’s sacred objects as party goblets was a public way of humiliating them and asserting power.
Daniel 5:3Drinking from the sacred vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, decades after Nebuchadnezzar had carried them off, is a gesture of calculated mockery: using a conquered people’s religious objects as ordinary party goblets.
Daniel 5:4Praising gods made of metal and wood right after drinking from vessels stolen from the temple sets up the contrast that will explode in the next verse, with the hand that writes on the wall.
Daniel 5:5The hand writes on the wall lit by a lampstand, likely so that every guest at the banquet could see the phenomenon the moment it happened, leaving no doubt about what was going on.
Daniel 5:6The physical description of the king’s panic, his ‘knees smote one against another,’ is far more graphic than usual in biblical narratives, a vivid way of showing that his terror was uncontrollable.
Daniel 5:7Offering the post of ‘third ruler in the kingdom’ makes sense within the real political structure: Belshazzar himself ruled as second, under his absent father, so third place was the highest rank he had the power to grant.
Daniel 5:8The repeated failure of the court’s wise men, already seen in chapters 2 and 4, reinforces a pattern in the book: every time Babylon’s methods of divination fail, that is exactly when Daniel enters the scene.
Daniel 5:9The panic now spreads from the king to the whole audience of nobles, showing that the mystery of the writing affected not only the man on the throne, but the entire elite gathered at the banquet.
Daniel 5:10This ‘queen’ was probably not Belshazzar’s wife, since his wives were already at the feast, but a queen mother or grandmother who remembered Nebuchadnezzar’s time, which explains why she knows of Daniel’s existence.
Daniel 5:11The queen’s description of Daniel — ‘an excellent spirit,’ able to interpret dreams and solve riddles — repeats the same kind of praise used about him back in chapter 2, decades earlier; the text suggests his reputation at court lasted across different reigns.
Daniel 5:12The queen lists the same qualities already mentioned about Daniel in earlier chapters, a sign that his reputation, built decades before under Nebuchadnezzar, was still remembered at court.
Daniel 5:13Calling Nebuchadnezzar ‘father’ of Belshazzar is probably an old way of saying ‘predecessor’ or ‘ancestor on the throne,’ since historical sources outside the Bible indicate that Belshazzar’s literal father was Nabonidus.
Daniel 5:14Belshazzar repeats almost word for word what the queen had already said about Daniel, confirming that he listened carefully to her recommendation before sending for him.
Daniel 5:15The king sums up, for Daniel himself, the wise men’s failure already narrated in the previous verses — a common device of repetition in the book’s Aramaic narrative style.
Daniel 5:16The offer of reward repeats almost exactly the promise made to the other wise men in verse 7 — Belshazzar does not change his strategy, only his candidate, now that the earlier methods have failed.
Daniel 5:17Turning down the gifts before even knowing the content of the message is a strong gesture: Daniel makes clear he will not soften the interpretation in exchange for reward, especially knowing the news will be bad.
Daniel 5:18Before reading the writing, Daniel goes back over Nebuchadnezzar’s whole history, including his fall and restoration in chapter 4, as necessary background for the judgment about to come against Belshazzar.
Daniel 5:19Describing Nebuchadnezzar’s absolute power over life and death sets up the following contrast: even a power that great was eventually brought down when the king’s heart filled with pride.
Daniel 5:20Daniel sums up in one sentence the whole episode of chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar’s fall through pride, as a direct argument that arrogance has consequences already demonstrated within Belshazzar’s own family.
Daniel 5:21Repeating the details of Nebuchadnezzar’s madness, eating grass, living among wild animals, serves as a vivid reminder that Belshazzar knew this family history well and still failed to learn the lesson.
Daniel 5:22The central point of Daniel’s accusation is not only Belshazzar’s sin, but the fact that he knew his own father’s experience and still repeated the same mistake of arrogance.
Daniel 5:23Daniel builds the accusation as a direct contrast: gods of metal and wood ‘which see not, nor hear, nor know,’ against the living God who literally holds the king’s own breath in His hand.
Daniel 5:24Only after laying out the whole historical and moral background does Daniel finally return to the starting point: the hand that wrote on the wall, whose origin he now clearly attributes to God.
Daniel 5:25‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN’ is a wordplay in Aramaic built on terms of weight and measure: the text itself explains the meaning — numbered, weighed and found wanting, divided — without leaving the puzzle for the reader to solve.
Daniel 5:26‘Mene’ sounds like the Aramaic word for ‘to count’ or ‘to number’ — this sound-alike wordplay is part of how Daniel builds his interpretation of each mysterious word written on the wall.
Daniel 5:27‘Tekel’ points to the word for ‘to weigh,’ evoking the image of a market scale: Belshazzar’s reign was placed on the scales of divine judgment and ‘found wanting.’
Daniel 5:28‘Peres’ sounds like ‘to divide’ and also like the Aramaic word for the Persians — a single wordplay that both announces the kingdom’s division and names who will seize it.
Daniel 5:29Calling Nebuchadnezzar ‘father’ of Belshazzar is an old, looser use of the word, meaning ‘predecessor’ or ‘ancestor on the throne’ — historically, Belshazzar’s actual father was Nabonidus, not Nebuchadnezzar, but this way of speaking of earlier kings as ‘fathers’ was common in the region.
Daniel 5:30Belshazzar’s fall happens that same night of the banquet, with no gap at all between Daniel’s warning and its fulfillment — one of the swiftest judgments narrated in the whole book.
Daniel 5:31‘Darius the Median’ is one of the most debated historical figures in the book: there is no clear outside record of a Persian king by that exact name reigning right after Babylon’s fall, and various proposals try to identify him with other known rulers of the period — the matter remains unresolved among historians.