1. BALTASSAR the king made a great feast to his nobles a thousand: and euerie one dranke according to his age.
2. He commanded therfore now being drunke that the vessels of gold & siluer, should be brought, which Nabuchodonosor his father had caried away out of the temple, that was in Ierusalem, that the king, and his Nobles might drinke in them, and his wiues, and concubines.
3. Then were the golden and siluer vessels brought, which he had caried away out of the temple, that was in Ierusalem: and the king and his nobles dranke in them, his wiues and concubines.
4. They dranke wine, and praysed their goddes of gold, and of siluer, of brasse, of yron, and of wood, and of stone.
5. In the very same houre there appeared fingers, as it were of the hand of a man, writing ouer against the candlesticke in the vtter part of the wal of the kings palace: and the king beheld the ioynts of the hand that wrote.
6. Then was the kings face changed, and his cogitations trubled him: and the iunctures of his reynes were loosed, and his knees were striken one against the other.
7. The king therfore cried out mightely that they should bring in the magicians, Chaldees, and southsayers. And the king speaking sayd to the wisemen of Babylon: Whosoeuer shal read this writing, and shal make the interpretation therof manifest vnto me, shal be clothed with purple, and shal haue a golden chayne on his necke, & shal be the third in my kingdom.
8. Then al the kings wisemen going in could not neither read the writing, nor declare the interpretation to the king.
9. Wherewith king Baltassar was much trubled, and his countenance was changed: yea and his nobles were trubled.
10. And the queene for the thing that had happened to the king, and his nobles, entered into the house of the feast: and speaking she sayd: King for euer liue: let not thy cogitations truble thee, neither let thy face be changed.
11. There is a man in thy kingdom, that hath the spirit of the holie goddes in him: and in the dayes of thy father knowlege and wisedom were found in him: for king Nabuchodonosor also thy father appoynted him prince of the magicians, inchanters, Chaldees and southsayers, thy father, I say o king:
12. Because more ample spirit, and prudence, and vnderstanding, & interpretation of dreames, and shewing of secrets, and solution of thinges bound were found in him, that is, in Daniel: to whom the king gaue the name Baltassar. Now therfore let Daniel be called, and he wil tel the interpretation.
13. Daniel therfore was brought in before the king. To whom the king speaking, said: Art thou Daniel of the children of the captiuitie of Iuda, whom my father the king brought out of Iewrie?
14. I haue heard of thee, that thou hast the spirit of the goddes, and more ample knowlege, and vnderstanding, and wisedom are found in thee.
15. And now there haue come into my sight the wise magicians, that they might read this writing, and might shew me the interpretation therof: and they could not declare me the sense of this word.
16. Moreouer I haue heard of thee, that thou canst interpret obscure thinges, and resolue thinges bound: if therfore thou be able to reade the writing, & to shew me the interpretation therof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and shalt haue a cheyne of gold about thy necke, & shalt be the third prince in my kingdom.
17. To which thinges Daniel answering, sayd before the king: Thy rewardes be they vnto thee, and the giftes of thy house geue to an other: but the writing wil I read thee, o king, and the interpretation therof wil I shew to thee.
18. O king, God the most high gaue to Nabuchodonosor thy father kingdom and magnificence, glorie and honour.
19. And for the magnificence, which he gaue to him, al peoples, tribes, and tongues trembled, and feared him: whom he would he killed: and whom he would, he stroke: and whom he would he exalted: and whom he would, he humbled.
20. But when his hart was eleuated, and his spirit obstinatly set to pride, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom, and his glorie was taken away.
21. And he was cast out from the sonnes of men, yea and his hart was set with the beasts, and with the wild asses was his habitation: grasse also he did eate as an oxe, and with the dew of heauen his bodie was embrewed: til he knew that the Highest had powre in the kingdom of men, and whomsoeuer it shal please him he wil raise vp ouer it.
22. Thou also his sonne Baltassar, hast not humbled thy hart, wheras thou knowest al these thinges:
23. but against the dominatour of heauen thou wast eleuated: and the vessels of his house haue bene brought before thee: and thou, and thy nobles, and thy wiues, and thy concinbins haue drunke wine in them: the goddes also of siluer, and of gold, and of brasse, of yron, and of wood, and of stone that see not, nor heare, nor feele, thou hast praysed: moreouer the God, that hath thy breath in his hand, and al thy wayes, thou hast not glorified.
24. Therfore from him is the ioynt of the hand sent, which hath written this that is drawen.
25. And this is the writing which is ordered. MANE, THECEL, PHARES.
26. And this the interpretation of the word. MANE: God hath numbred thy kingdom, and hath finished it.
27. THECEL: thou art weighed in the balance, and art found hauing lesse.
28. PHARES: thy kingdom is diuided, and is geuen to the Medes, and Persians.
29. Then the king commanding Daniel was clothed with purple, and a cheyne of gold was put about his necke: & it was proclamed of him that he had powre the third in the kingdom.
30. The same night was Baltassar the king of Chaldee slaine.
31. And Darius the Mede succeded into the kingdom, being three score and two yeares old.