^{17 Ref} Then Daniel answered before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

^{18 Ref} You king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:

^{19 Ref} and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he killed, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down.

^{20 Ref} 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:

^{21 Ref} 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 fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whoever he will.

^{22 Ref} You his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,

^{23 Ref} 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 from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.

^{24 Ref} Then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed.

²⁵ This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

^{26 Ref} This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end;

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

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

^{29 Ref} 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.

^{30 Ref} In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.

^{31 Ref} Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.