Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink therefrom.
Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them.
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Then the king's {Aramaic: brightness.}countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Then came in all the king's wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation.
Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.
Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed.
There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, {Or, thy father, O King}the king, I say, thy father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.
Then was Daniel brought in before the king. The king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, who art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah?
I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in thee.
And now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing.
But I have heard of thee, that thou canst give interpretations, and dissolve doubts; now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:
and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down.
But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts', and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will.
And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this,
but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine from them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.
Then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed.
And this is the writing that was inscribed: {That is, Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divisions.}MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end;
TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
{That is, Divided.}PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. {[Chapter 6:1 in Aramaic]}
And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
Querverweise zu Daniel 5,6 Dan 5,6
Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.
Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see;And make their loins continually to shake.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the {Or, tottering}feeble knees.
And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.
I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the {Or, imaginations}thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt:
All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken dumb for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine adversaries.
and they shall be dismayed; {Or, they shall take hold of pangs and sorrows}pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail: they shall look in amazement one at another; their faces shall be faces of flame.
And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall {Or, be dim}faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, {Or, And years that are numbered are laid up &c.}Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
A sound of terrors is in his ears;In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,And he is waited for of the sword.
He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Distress and anguish make him afraid;They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,And {Or, biddeth defiance to}behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
He runneth upon him with a stiff neck, {Or, Upon}With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,And gathered fat upon his loins;
{Aramaic: Hitherto.}Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my {Aramaic: brightness.}countenance was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am {Hebrew: bent.}pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.
For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;He hath violently taken away a house, {Or, which he builded not}and he shall not build it up.
Because he knew no quietness {Or, in his greed Hebrew: in his belly.}within him,He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
There was nothing left that he devoured not;Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
{Or, Let it be for the filling of his belly that God shall cast &c.}When he is about to fill his belly,God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,And will rain it upon him {Or, as his food}while he is eating.
He shall flee from the iron weapon,And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:Terrors are upon him.
All darkness is laid up for his treasures:A fire not blown by man shall devour him; {Or, It shall go ill with him that is left}It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,And the earth shall rise up against him.
My heart {Hebrew: wandereth.}fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.
Wherefore {Greek: make straight.}lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees;
Surely thou settest them in slippery places:Thou castest them down to {Hebrew: ruins.}destruction.
How are they become a desolation in a moment!They are utterly consumed with terrors.
As a dream when one awaketh,So, O Lord, {Or, in the city}when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
A {Or, hard}grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous man dealeth treacherously, and the destroyer destroyeth. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof {Or, will I make}have I made to cease.
Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am {Hebrew: bent.}pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
My heart {Hebrew: wandereth.}fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.