Belshazzar was the king of Babylon and the son of Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 5 describes how he was startled by a hand that suddenly appeared on the wall during a feast and wrote a message, and how he requested Daniel to interpret it.
Dan 5:1King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.Dan 5:2Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.Dan 5:3Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.Dan 5:4They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.Dan 5:5Immediately the 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 the hand as it wrote.Dan 5:6Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.Dan 5:7The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and shows me its interpretation shall be clothed in purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”Dan 5:8Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king its interpretation.Dan 5:9Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.
Dan 5:22And you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,Dan 5:23but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.Dan 5:24“Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.Dan 5:25And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN.Dan 5:26This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;Dan 5:27TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;Dan 5:28PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”Dan 5:29Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple,