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KING JAMES BIBLE · PCE

Daniel 5:23–30

TEXT EDITION
Pure Cambridge Edition selected
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:
Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
¶ And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
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 should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
¶ In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
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PASSAGE SELECTION

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Choose up to 10 verses in this chapter. The study tools update with the selected passage.

SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE

Cross References

28 Essential passages are open for comparison.

Reference depth

From verse 23

  1. Job 12:10Rank 1 from verse 23
    Open

    10In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

  2. Daniel 4:37Rank 2 from verse 23
    Open

    37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

  3. Isaiah 2:12Rank 3 from verse 23
    Open

    12For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

  4. Isaiah 37:23Rank 4 from verse 23
    Open

    23Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

  5. Jeremiah 10:23Rank 5 from verse 23
    Open

    23¶ O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

From verse 24

  1. Daniel 5:5Rank 1 from verse 24
    Open

    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.

From verse 26

  1. Isaiah 47:1–15Rank 1 from verse 26
    Open

    1COME down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

    2Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

    3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

    4As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

    5Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

    6¶ I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

    7¶ And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.

    8Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

    9But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.

    10¶ For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

    11¶ Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

    12Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

    13Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

    14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

    15Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

  2. Jeremiah 25:11–12Rank 2 from verse 26
    Open

    11And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

    12¶ And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

  3. Jeremiah 27:7Rank 3 from verse 26
    Open

    7And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

  4. Acts 15:18Rank 4 from verse 26
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    18Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

  5. Daniel 9:2Rank 5 from verse 26
    Open

    2In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

From verse 27

  1. Job 31:6Rank 1 from verse 27
    Open

    6Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

  2. 1 Corinthians 3:13Rank 2 from verse 27
    Open

    13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

  3. Psalms 62:9Rank 3 from verse 27
    Open

    9Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

  4. Ezekiel 22:18–20Rank 4 from verse 27
    Open

    18Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

    19Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

    20As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

  5. Jeremiah 6:30Rank 5 from verse 27
    Open

    30Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

From verse 28

  1. Daniel 6:28Rank 1 from verse 28
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    28So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

  2. Isaiah 13:17Rank 2 from verse 28
    Open

    17Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

  3. Daniel 5:31Rank 3 from verse 28
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    31And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

  4. Isaiah 21:2Rank 4 from verse 28
    Open

    2A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.

  5. Isaiah 45:1–2Rank 5 from verse 28
    Open

    1THUS saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

    2I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

From verse 29

  1. Daniel 5:16Rank 1 from verse 29
    Open

    16And 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.

  2. Daniel 5:7Rank 2 from verse 29
    Open

    7The 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, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

From verse 30

  1. Jeremiah 51:31Rank 1 from verse 30
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    31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,

  2. Jeremiah 51:39Rank 2 from verse 30
    Open

    39In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.

  3. Jeremiah 51:57Rank 3 from verse 30
    Open

    57And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

  4. Daniel 5:1–2Rank 4 from verse 30
    Open

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

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

  5. Isaiah 21:4–9Rank 5 from verse 30
    Open

    4My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

    5Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

    6For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

    7And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:

    8And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

    9And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.

WORDS IN THIS PASSAGE

Definitions

Open a word for its full definition and concordance.

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:23

COMBINED MEANING

but

↗

Sense 1: However; marking contrast or qualification. Sense 2: Except or unless; excluding all others or alternatives. Sense 3: Only; no more than what follows.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Skeat 1893 · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

hast

↗

Sense 1: Have: possess, hold, receive, or experience. Sense 2: Used as an auxiliary verb.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

against

↗

Opposed to, contrary to, facing, toward, or in contact with; in some settings, exposed to or ready for a stated time.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Skeat 1893

COMBINED MEANING

Lord

↗

1. A title of God or Jesus Christ acknowledging authority and rule. 2. A respectful title or address for one in authority.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

heaven

↗

Sense 1: The firmament or expanse above the earth, including the sky and the region of the sun, moon, stars, clouds, rain, and flying creatures. Sense 2: The realm above spoken of as God's throne and dwelling place, and as the place of angels, heavenly beings, and the righteous. Sense 3: By metonymy, God, heavenly authority or source, or those who dwell there.

Meaning drawn from: Direct Scripture definition · KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

vessels

↗

1. Containers, utensils, or implements made to hold, carry, or serve. 2. Ships or craft for travel upon water. 3. Figuratively, persons or bodies regarded as bearers or instruments.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

house

↗

Sense 1: A building or dwelling. Sense 2: The people of a household or family. Sense 3: A lineage or family line. Sense 4: As a verb, to shelter, lodge, or provide a dwelling for.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

before

↗

Earlier than in time; in front of; in the presence of; or prior in order or rank.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

thou

↗

The singular second-person subject pronoun, meaning you when directly addressing one person, being, or individually treated addressee.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

lords

↗

Sense 1: Lords: masters, rulers, nobles, or owners. Sense 2: As a verb, rules or exercises dominion. In 'Lord of lords,' the lords are rulers over whom the Lord is supreme.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

concubines

↗

Women held in a recognized secondary marital or household relation to a man, distinct from wives of primary rank.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

drunk

↗

Having swallowed liquid; or intoxicated and impaired by strong drink.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

wine

↗

The produce of grapes or other fruit used as a drink.

Meaning drawn from: Direct Scripture definition · KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

in

↗

1. A preposition marking position, presence, state, circumstance, manner, means, sphere, reference, relation, association, or participation. 2. As an adverb, inward, inside, or into the place or position referred to.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

silver

↗

A precious white metal used for money, vessels, ornaments, images, trade, valuation, and refining; by extension, money or wealth reckoned in that metal.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

stone

↗

Sense 1: A piece or mass of rock. Sense 2: To strike or kill with stones.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

which

↗

1. An interrogative or relative pronoun identifying one or more persons or things from a stated or implied set. 2. That which; what.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

see

↗

Sense 1: To perceive or behold with the eyes or in a vision. Sense 2: To observe, examine, discover, ascertain, consider, understand, know, or recognize. Sense 3: To visit, meet, converse with, or be in the presence of. Sense 4: To experience, undergo, endure, or enjoy. Sense 5: To attend to, take care, ensure, or beware.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

hear

↗

Sense 1: To perceive sound or spoken words. Sense 2: To receive or learn by report. Sense 3: To listen to, regard, or heed. Sense 4: To attend favourably to a request.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

know

↗

To perceive, understand, recognize, experience, or be assured of something.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

hand

↗

Sense 1: The part of the body at the end of the arm. Sense 2: Figuratively, power, possession, aid, or agency.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

breath

↗

Sense 1: Air drawn in or breathed out. Sense 2: The breath by which bodily life is sustained; by extension, bodily life.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

glorified

↗

Past-tense, participial, or adjectival form of glorify, meaning to honour, praise, magnify, exalt, make glorious, display glory in, or cause the excellence and worth of a person or name to be acknowledged.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:24

COMBINED MEANING

part

↗

Sense 1: A portion or division of a whole. Sense 2: To divide, separate, depart, or share.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

hand

↗

Sense 1: The part of the body at the end of the arm. Sense 2: Figuratively, power, possession, aid, or agency.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

written

↗

Past-tense or past-participial form of write (to set down, record, or communicate in letters or writing).

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:25

COMBINED MEANING

written

↗

Past-tense or past-participial form of write (to set down, record, or communicate in letters or writing).

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:26

COMBINED MEANING

numbered

↗

Counted, reckoned, enrolled, listed, included in a company or class, or measured as to number or extent.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

kingdom

↗

The rule, royal authority, government, realm, territory, subjects, or dominion of a king.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:27

COMBINED MEANING

thou

↗

The singular second-person subject pronoun, meaning you when directly addressing one person, being, or individually treated addressee.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

art

↗

1. The second-person singular present form of be: are, when one person is addressed. 2. Skill, craft, or skilled workmanship used to make or prepare something.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

weighed

↗

Sense 1: Measured or ascertained by scales or balance. Sense 2: Figuratively, considered, evaluated, or judged by a standard.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

in

↗

1. A preposition marking position, presence, state, circumstance, manner, means, sphere, reference, relation, association, or participation. 2. As an adverb, inward, inside, or into the place or position referred to.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

balances

↗

1. An instrument with opposing scales for weighing. 2. By figure, the weighing or judging of a person or matter.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:28

COMBINED MEANING

kingdom

↗

The rule, royal authority, government, realm, territory, subjects, or dominion of a king.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:29

COMBINED MEANING

clothed

↗

1. Dressed or covered with garments or another material covering. 2. Figuratively, furnished, arrayed, or characterized with a stated condition or quality.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

scarlet

↗

Sense 1: A bright red colour. Sense 2: Dye, thread, cloth, or a garment of that colour.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

put

↗

To place, set, lay, appoint, bring into a condition, or cause to be.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

chain

↗

Sense 1: A series of connected links, worn as an ornament or used to bind or restrain. Sense 2: Figuratively, a bond, confinement, affliction, or surrounding force.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

about

↗

1. Around or near in place, position, or movement; on every side, in a circuit, from place to place, or turned from one direction or state toward another. 2. Approximately in number, measure, distance, or time. 3. Concerning, occupied with, or engaged in a matter. 4. On the point of, intending, or attempting an action.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

made

↗

Formed, caused, prepared, appointed, or brought into a stated condition.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

should

↗

A verb expressing duty, propriety, expectation, intention, purpose, condition, appointed outcome, or a future event viewed from another time or statement.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

ruler

↗

Sense 1: One who governs or exercises authority. Sense 2: A straight measuring instrument.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

in

↗

1. A preposition marking position, presence, state, circumstance, manner, means, sphere, reference, relation, association, or participation. 2. As an adverb, inward, inside, or into the place or position referred to.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

kingdom

↗

The rule, royal authority, government, realm, territory, subjects, or dominion of a king.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Daniel 5:30

COMBINED MEANING

in

↗

1. A preposition marking position, presence, state, circumstance, manner, means, sphere, reference, relation, association, or participation. 2. As an adverb, inward, inside, or into the place or position referred to.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

night

↗

1. The dark part of the daily cycle distinguished from day, from evening until morning, or any portion of it. 2. A time or condition compared with night or darkness.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

king

↗

A sovereign ruler; one exercising royal authority over a kingdom.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

Chaldeans

↗

Sense 1: People of Chaldea. Sense 2: Members of a learned or astrologer class associated with Babylon.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

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

23But 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:

Selected passage

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

Selected passage

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

Selected passage

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

Selected passage

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

Selected passage

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

Selected passage

29Then 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 should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Selected passage

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

Selected passage

31And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

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