³⁰ That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldaeans, was put to death.

³¹ One man, running, will give word to another, and one who goes with news will be handing it on to another, to give word to the king of Babylon that his town has been taken from every quarter:

³⁹ When they are heated, I will make a feast for them, and overcome them with wine, so that they may become unconscious, sleeping an eternal sleep without awaking, says the Lord.

⁵⁷ And I will make her chiefs and her wise men, her rulers and her captains and her men of war, overcome with wine; their sleep will be an eternal sleep without awaking, says the King; the Lord of armies is his name.

⁴ My mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me.

⁵ They make ready the table, they put down the covers, they take food and drink. Up! you captains; put oil on your breastplates.

⁶ For so has the Lord said to me, Go, let a watchman be placed; let him give word of what he sees:

⁷ And when he sees war-carriages, horsemen by twos, war-carriages with asses, war-carriages with camels, let him give special attention.

⁸ And the watchman gave a loud cry, O my lord, I am on the watchtower all day, and am placed in my watch every night:

⁹ See, here come war-carriages with men, horsemen by twos: and in answer he said, Babylon is made low, is made low, and all her images are broken on the earth.

⁹ But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and of husband: in full measure they will come on you, for all your secret arts, and all your wonders.

¹¹ Make bright the arrows; take up the body-covers: the Lord has been moving the spirit of the king of the Medes; because his design against Babylon is its destruction: for it is the punishment from the Lord, the payment for his Temple.

¹ Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, drinking wine before the thousand.

² Belshazzar, while he was overcome with wine, gave orders for them to put before him the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem; so that the king and his lords, his wives and his other women, might take their drink from them.