¹ Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his nobles, and drank wine before the thousand.

² Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines, might drink in 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 nobles, his wives and his concubines, drank in them.

⁴ They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.

⁵ In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

⁶ Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

⁷ The king cried aloud to bring in the magicians, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

⁸ Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation.

⁹ Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his nobles were confounded.

¹⁰ -- The queen, by reason of the words of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet-house. The queen spoke and said, O king, live for ever! let not thy thoughts trouble thee, neither let thy countenance be changed.

¹¹ There is a man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods was found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, [even] the king thy father, made him master of the scribes, magicians, Chaldeans, [and] astrologers;

¹² forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and solving of problems, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.

¹³ Then was Daniel brought in before the king. The king spoke and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah?

¹⁴ And I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and [that] light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

¹⁵ And now the wise men, the magicians, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing.

¹⁶ But I have heard of thee, that thou canst give interpretations, and solve problems. Now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.

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

¹⁸ O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty;

¹⁹ and for the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, 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 exalted, and whom he would he humbled.

²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit hardened unto presumption, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom, and they took his glory from him;

²¹ 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 bathed with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the Most High God ruleth over the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

²² And thou, Belshazzar, his son, hast not humbled thy heart, although thou knewest all this;

²³ but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of the heavens; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy nobles, 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 then from before him was sent the part of the hand, and this writing hath been written.

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

²⁶ This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it;

²⁷ TEKEL, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting;

²⁸ PERES, Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

²⁹ Then Belshazzar commanded, 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 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

³¹ And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, [being] about sixty-two years old.

¹ "Comfort, Comfort my people," says your God.

² "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins."

³ The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

⁵ The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."

⁶ The voice of one saying, "Cry!" One said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."

⁹ You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don't be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or has taught him as his counselor?

¹⁴ Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

¹⁹ A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

²¹ Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

²³ who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

²⁴ They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

²⁵ "To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"

²⁸ Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

³⁰ Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

³¹ But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.