Daniel 5:1-4·~1 min

Belshazzar’s Feast

Belshazzar stages a great feast for his nobles and, emboldened by wine, orders the temple vessels from Jerusalem to be used in the banquet. He and his company drink from them while praising lifeless gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. The scene presents Babylonian power at its most careless and self-exalting, treating what is holy as a prop for drunken idolatry.

L¹ater, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. ²Under 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. ³Thus 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. ⁴As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

Section summaryBelshazzar hosts a lavish feast for a thousand nobles and, under the influence of wine, commands the sacred vessels taken from Jerusalem's temple to be brought in for use by the king, his nobles, wives, and concubines. As they drink from what had belonged to the house of God, they praise idols of precious metals, wood, and stone. The feast is therefore not merely indulgent but openly profane, turning sacrilege into public celebration.

Role in the chapterThis opening section establishes the king's blasphemous pride and sets the moral ground for the judgment that follows.