Daniel 5:23

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Daniel 5:21–25 · Berean Standard Bible

21 He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

22 But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

24 Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

25 Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Daniel 5:3

Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

Daniel 5:4

As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

2 Kings 14:10

You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

Isaiah 2:12

For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted— it will be humbled—

Isaiah 33:10

“Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

Isaiah 37:23

Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

Jeremiah 50:29

Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

Ezekiel 28:2

“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.

Ezekiel 28:5

By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it.

Ezekiel 28:17

Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings.

Ezekiel 31:10

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,

Habakkuk 2:4

Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright — but the righteous will live by faith —

1 Timothy 3:6

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.

Revelation 13:5

The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months.

Revelation 13:6

And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven.

Daniel 4:37

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

Genesis 14:19

and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

Psalms 115:16

The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind.

Daniel 5:2

Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

1 Samuel 5:1

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,

1 Samuel 5:2

carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.

1 Samuel 5:3

When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

1 Samuel 5:4

But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD, with his head and his hands broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the torso remained.

1 Samuel 5:5

That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.

1 Samuel 5:6

Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.

1 Samuel 5:7

And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon.”

1 Samuel 5:8

So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” “It must be moved to Gath,” they replied. So they carried away the ark of the God of Israel.

1 Samuel 5:9

But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.

Judges 16:23

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”

Psalms 115:4

Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Psalms 115:5

They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

Psalms 115:6

they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell;

Psalms 115:7

they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats.

Psalms 115:8

Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

Psalms 135:15

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Psalms 135:16

They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

Psalms 135:17

they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.

Isaiah 37:19

They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

Isaiah 46:6

They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

Isaiah 46:7

They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

Habakkuk 2:18

What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it— or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

Habakkuk 2:19

Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

1 Corinthians 8:4

So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

Genesis 2:7

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Job 12:10

The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

Job 34:14

If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,

Job 34:15

all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.

Psalms 104:29

When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

Psalms 146:4

When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

Isaiah 42:5

This is what God the LORD says— He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

Acts 17:25

Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

Acts 17:28

‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Acts 17:29

Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

Job 31:4

Does He not see my ways and count my every step?

Psalms 139:3

You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.

Proverbs 20:24

A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?

Jeremiah 10:23

I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.

Hebrews 4:13

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Romans 1:21

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

Romans 1:22

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

Romans 1:23

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.