1 BELSHAZZAR the king made a great feast [ The king is young, and he has a feast with thousands of his buddies - can you imagine what that was like? He is the kind of person that desires anything that is pleasing to the flesh, so you can imagine the party. ] to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.

2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple [ This would have been an insult to the great God of heaven. The vessels were used by the priests as part of temple worship and now they are being used as in mockery to God. In essence they are showing that God is in submission to them, they do with him and his things as THEY PLEASE! The ultimate in your face. ] which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.

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 princes, 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 plaister 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, [ His face became pale. ] and his thoughts troubled him, [ He is struck with fear. ] so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. [ He began to shake violently, he is no longer able to stand. ]

7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, [ The color of royalty. ] and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. [ Why is he offering the position of the third in the kingdom? Because his father is Nabonidus the king of Babylon. Belshazzar is the son of Nabonidus, but his father has not been around as he has been in Arabia for the past ten years. His dad was over there involved in archelogical digs at Haran. So he is not really paying much attention to what his playboy son is doing in Babylon. That is why the greatest position Belshazzar can offer is third as his father is #1, He is #2. ]

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 thereof.

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

10 ¶ Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: [ So she was not present will all of this happened. So if you go back to verse 3 it says that at the banquet were Belshazzar, his wives, and his concubines, drank all drinking with him. So along comes the Queen Mother some one who was not at the party already. She is most likely the wife of his father King Nabonidus. ] and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:

11  There is a man in thy kingdom, [ The Queen would know about Daniel, she lived seeing what he did first hand, she knew how her husband King Nebuchadnezzar had witnessed what had happened with him. ] in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father [ They do not use grandfather in those days. So Nebuchadnezzar would have been Belshazzar's grandfather, as Nabonidus was his father and married Nebuchadnezzar's daughter. Suggesting that Belshazzar does not know who Daniel is. He is most likely grown old? Whatever the reason he appears to not be a prominent person in the kingdom any longer. ] light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; [ Daniel. ] ; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;

12 Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, [ The queen pays respect to Daniel and his God by calling him Daniel, his Hebrew name, not Belteshazzar the name that the king gave him. ] whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, [ So the Queen suggests that he call Daniel as he will be able to teach him what he wants to know. The Queen at least has good memories of Daniel, maybe they are still good friends. ] and he [ Daniel. ] will shew the interpretation.

13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? [ Really his grandfather who was King Nebuchadnezzar. ]

14  I have even heard of thee, [ It was actually the Queen, either his mother or grandmother. ] 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 astrologers, 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 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. [ Daniel will again be placed in a position that he had held before. (see verse 7)]

17 ¶ Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; [ Doctrine taught: No man who uses his priesthood should take money for using that priesthood. ] yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. [ First message here is that Daniel has confidence that he can get the answer for the King. Why? Because he has done it before, he knows that he is living according to the word that will allow him to get those answers. He has been faithful, he has paid the price so that he knows. ]

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

19 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; [ Verse 18 -24 here are explained further in Daniel 4:1-3. ] and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

20 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 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 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; [ You because of your pride have offended God. ] and they have brought the vessels of his house [ The Temple. ] before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; [ You used the temple vessels to mock God. ] and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, [ You drank from the cups taken from Gods house and praised other Gods with them. Suggesting that the God of the Hebrews is submissive to the Babylon Gods. ] which see not, [ These gods that you have praised do not sye - they cannot for they do not have eyes. ] nor hear, nor know: [ Of coarse not as they have no intelligence. This is a direct comparison to a God that does see, does hear, and does know and think. ] and the God in whose hand thy breath is, [ In other words the living God who has control of the Kings life. ] and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: [ You have not shown any respect to the real living God. ]

24 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 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 commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he [ Daniel. ] should be the third ruler in the kingdom. [ This must have happened immediately. Why? Because later that night the Medes and the Persians overtake the city and kill Belshazzar. ]

30 ¶ In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. [ 62 Years old. This Darius is kind of a mystery. He is not the same Darius the Persian KIng that comes after King Cyrus. (Daniel 6) ]