Prophets & WritingsOld Testament

Belshazzar

Daniel
When

553–539 BC· Reign

Tied to events dated from records outside the Bible, usually within a few years. How the dates are worked out

Name meaning

"Bel, protect the king" · Babylonian

About

Babylon's last ruler, who threw a great feast using the sacred vessels looted from the Temple. A disembodied hand wrote on the wall — 'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin' — and Daniel was summoned to interpret it: the kingdom was numbered and finished. That very night Belshazzar was slain and the city fell to the Medes and Persians.

Relationships
PredecessorNebuchadnezzarCalled his 'father'; the king before him
SummonedDanielWho read the writing on the wall
Key Scripture AppearancesKJV
Daniel 5:1
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.Daniel 5:1, KJV
Daniel 5:5
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.Daniel 5:5, KJV
Daniel 5:25
And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.Daniel 5:25, KJV
Daniel 5:30
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.Daniel 5:30, KJV

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