The Daily Audio Bible

Belshazzar’s Feast

5 Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand. ² While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king, and his officials, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. ³ 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 officials, his wives and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

The Writing on the Wall

⁵ Immediately fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace. And the king saw the back of the hand that wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees struck against one another.

⁷ The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever shall read this writing and show me its interpretation shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

⁸ Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king its interpretation. ⁹ Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his nobles were astonished.

¹⁰ Now the queen came into the banquet house because of the words of the king and his nobles. And the queen spoke and said, “O king, live forever. Do not let your thoughts trouble you, or let your countenance be changed. ¹¹ There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And, in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, made him master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. ¹² Inasmuch as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding, interpreting dreams and explanation of enigmas and solving of problems, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.”

Daniel Interprets the Writing

¹³ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. And the king spoke and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the sons of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? ¹⁴ Now I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you; and that light, and understanding, and excellent wisdom have been found in you. ¹⁵ Now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not give the interpretation of the matter. ¹⁶ And I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”

¹⁷ Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, or give your rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.

¹⁸ “O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. ¹⁹ And for the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he slaughtered, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he set up, and whom he would, he put down. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him. ²¹ And he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that He appoints over it whomever He wills.

²² “Yet you, his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this; ²³ but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine in them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know. And the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified. ²⁴ Then the hand was sent from Him, and this inscription was written.

²⁵ “This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

²⁶ “This is the interpretation of the message:

Mene:^[a] God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.

²⁷ Tekel:^[b] you have been weighed in the balances and are found wanting.

²⁸ Peres:^[c] your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

³⁰ That same night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was slain. ³¹ Then Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

False Prophets and Teachers^(A)

2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their judgment, made long ago, does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber.

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be kept for judgment; ⁵ and if He did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, making them an example to those afterward who would live ungodly lives; ⁷ and if He delivered righteous Lot, who was distressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man lived among them, and what he saw and heard of their lawless deeds tormented his righteous soul day after day); ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment, ¹⁰ especially those who walk after the flesh in pursuit of unclean desires, and despise authority.

They are presumptuous and arrogant, and are not afraid to slander the angelic beings. ¹¹ Whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring slanderous accusations against them before the Lord. ¹² But these people are like irrational animals, born to be captured and destroyed. They speak evil of the things that they do not understand, and in their corruption they will be destroyed.

¹³ They shall receive the wages of unrighteousness. They count it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes who revel in their own deception while they carouse together with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. They entice unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in greed. They are cursed children! ¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and have gone astray. They follow the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness, ¹⁶ but who was rebuked for his iniquity. The mute donkey speaking with a man’s voice constrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These men are wells without water and clouds that are carried by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. ¹⁸ For when they speak arrogant words of vanity, they entice by the lusts of the flesh and by depravity those who barely escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ Although they promise them freedom, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by that which a man is overcome, to this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then turn back from the holy commandment that was delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog returns to his own vomit,”^[a] and “the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mud.”

ס Samekh

ע Ayin