Daniel 5:5–12

⁵Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand came out and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the ¹back of the hand that did the writing.

⁶Then the ^1asplendor of the king’s face changed, and his thoughts alarmed him, and his ^bhip joints ²went slack, and his ^cknees were knocking against each other.

⁷The king called out loudly to bring in the ^aconjurers, the ¹Chaldeans, and the diviners. The king answered and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this writing and declare its interpretation to me shall be ^bclothed with purple and have a ^cnecklace of gold around his neck and rule with power as ^2dthird ruler in the kingdom.”

⁸Then all the king’s wise men came in, but ^athey could not read the writing or make known its interpretation to the king.

⁹Then King Belshazzar was greatly ^aalarmed, and the ^1bsplendor of his face changed further, and his nobles were perplexed.

¹⁰The queen entered the banquet ¹hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen answered and said, “^aO king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or the ²splendor of your face be changed.

¹¹“There is a ^aman in your kingdom in whom is ¹a ^bspirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father ^2cthe king, set him as chief of the ³magicians, conjurers, ⁴Chaldeans, and diviners.

¹²“This was because an ^aextraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas, and ¹solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named ^bBelteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned, and he will declare the interpretation.”