Daniel 5:5–12

^5kImmediately ^lthe fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw ^mthe hand as it wrote. ⁶ⁿThen the king’s color changed, ^oand his thoughts alarmed him; ^phis limbs gave way, and ^qhis knees knocked together. ^7rThe king called loudly to bring in ^rthe enchanters, the ^sChaldeans, and ^tthe astrologers. The king declared² to the wise men of Babylon, ^u“Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and ^vshall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸Then all the king’s wise men came in, but ^wthey could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. ⁹Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^xalarmed, and his ⁿcolor changed, and his ^ylords were perplexed.

¹⁰The queen,³ because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, ^z“O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you ^aor your color change. ¹¹There is a man in your kingdom ^bin whom is the spirit of the holy gods.⁴ In the days of your father, ^clight and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—^dmade him chief of the magicians, ^renchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, ^12ebecause an excellent spirit, knowledge, and ^funderstanding ^fto interpret dreams, explain riddles, and ^gsolve problems were found in this Daniel, ^hwhom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”