^{17 Ref} Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

^{18 Ref} O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:

^{19 Ref} And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, 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 set up; and whom he would he put down.

^{20 Ref} 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 Ref} 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: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

^{22 Ref} And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

^{23 Ref} 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 in 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:

^{24 Ref} Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.

²⁵ And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

^{26 Ref} This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

^{27 Ref} TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

^{28 Ref} PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.