1. King Belshazzar held a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles and drank wine in their presence.
2. Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines could drink from them.
3. So they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines drank from them.
4. They drank the wine and praised their gods made of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5. At that moment the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king’s palace wall next to the lampstand. As the king watched the hand that was writing,
6. his face turned pale, and his thoughts so terrified him that his hip joints shook and his knees knocked together.
7. The king called out to bring in the mediums, Chaldeans, and astrologers. He said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this inscription and gives me its interpretation will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain around his neck, and have the third highest position in the kingdom.”
8. So all the king’s wise men came in, but none could read the inscription or make its interpretation known to him.