Daniel 5:30

JPS Old Testament

In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed,

Hebrew Names Version
In that night Belshatztzar the Kasdai King was slain.

King James Version
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

English Standard Version
That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

New American Standard Bible
That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

New Century Version
That very same night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonian people, was killed.

Amplified Bible
During that same night Belshazzar the [last] Chaldean king was slain [by troops of the invading army].

Geneva Bible (1587)
The same night was Belshazzar the King of the Caldeans slaine.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

Berean Standard Bible
That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,

Contemporary English Version
That same night, the king was killed.

Complete Jewish Bible
That very night Belshatzar, the king of the Kasdim, was killed.

Darby Translation
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

Easy-to-Read Version
That very same night, Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was killed.

George Lamsa Translation
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

Good News Translation
That same night Belshazzar, the king of Babylonia, was killed;

Lexham English Bible
That same night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed.

Literal Translation
In that night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was killed.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The very same night was Balthasar the kynge off the Caldees slayne,

American Standard Version
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

Bible in Basic English
That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldaeans, was put to death.

King James Version (1611)
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Caldeans slaine.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The very same night was Balthasar the king of the Chaldees slaine.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
In the same night was Baltasar the Chaldean king slain.

English Revised Version
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

World English Bible
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In the same niyt Balthasar, the kyng of Caldeis, was slayn;

Update Bible Version
In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.

Webster's Bible Translation
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

New English Translation
And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.

New King James Version
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.

New Living Translation
That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.

New Life Bible
That very night Belshazzar the king of Babylon was killed.

New Revised Standard
That very night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In that night, was slain - Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The same night Baltasar, the Chaldean king, was slain.

Revised Standard Version
That very night Belshaz'zar the Chalde'an king was slain.

Young's Literal Translation
In that night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans is slain,

THE MESSAGE
That same night the Babylonian king Belshazzar was murdered. Darius the Mede was sixty-two years old when he succeeded him as king.

Contextual Overview

³⁰ In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. ³¹span data-lang="eng" data-trans="jps" data-ref="dan.5.1" class="versetxt"> Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his consorts and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his lords, his consorts and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw the palm of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts affrighted him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon: 'Whosoever shall read this writing, and declare unto me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall rule as one of three in the kingdom.' Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation. Then was king Belshazzar greatly affrighted, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed. Now the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house; the queen spoke and said: 'O king, live for ever! let not thy thoughts affright thee, nor let thy countenance be changed; there is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers; forasmuch as a surpassing spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and declaring of riddles, and loosing of knots, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will declare the interpretation.' Then was Daniel brought in before the king. The king spoke and said unto Daniel: 'Art thou Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah? I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and surpassing wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but they could not declare the interpretation of the thing. But I have heard of thee, that thou canst give interpretations, and loose knots; now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt rule as one of three in the kingdom.' Then Daniel answered and said before the king: 'Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O thou king, God Most High gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty; and because of the greatness that He gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him; and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that God Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that He setteth up over it whomsoever He will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this; 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 consorts 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 palm of the hand sent from before Him, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end. 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 purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should rule as one of three in the kingdom. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Daniel 5:1, Daniel 5:2, Isaiah 21:4-9, Isaiah 47:9, Jeremiah 51:11, Jeremiah 51:31, Jeremiah 51:39, Jeremiah 51:57

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 13:28 - heart is merry 1 Kings 16:9 - drinking 1 Kings 20:12 - drinking 2 Kings 19:35 - that night Job 14:5 - his days Job 27:20 - a tempest Job 34:20 - a moment Job 36:20 - cut Ecclesiastes 7:4 - the heart Isaiah 5:14 - he that rejoiceth Isaiah 47:8 - given Isaiah 47:13 - Let now Jeremiah 25:35 - the shepherds Jeremiah 50:24 - and thou wast Jeremiah 50:35 - upon her princes Jeremiah 51:52 - the wounded Daniel 7:1 - Belshazzar Daniel 8:4 - pushing Luke 16:25 - remember Acts 24:25 - temperance

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain. Not by a servant of his own, as Jacchiades; or by an eunuch, one of his guards, as Saadiah and Joseph ben Gorion b; but by Gadales and Gobryas, who led Cyrus's army up the river Euphrates into the city of Babylon, its course being turned; the inhabitants of which being revelling and rioting, and the gates open, these men went up to the king's palace; the doors of which being opened by the king's orders to know what was the matter, they rushed in, and finding him standing up with his sword drawn in his own defence, they fell upon him, and slew him, and all about him, as Xenophon c relates; and this was the same night the feast was, and the handwriting was seen, read, and interpreted. This was after a reign of seventeen years; for so Josephus says d, that Baltasar or Belshazzar, in whose reign Babylon was taken, reigned seventeen years; and so many years are assigned to him in Ptolemy's canon; though the Jewish chronicle e allows him but three years, very wrongly, no more of his reign being mentioned in Scripture: see Daniel 7:1. His death, according to Bishop Usher f, Mr. Whiston g, and Mr. Bedford h, was in the year of the world 3466 A.M., and 538 B.C. Dean Prideaux i places it in 539 B.C.

b Hist. Heb. l. 1. c. 6. p. 26. c Cyropaedia, l. 7. sect. 22, 23. d Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 4. e Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28. p. 81. f Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3466. g Chronological Tables, cent. 10. h Scripture Chronology, p. 711. i Connexion, &c. par. 1. p. 120.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain - On the taking of Babylon, and the consequences, see the notes at Isaiah 13:17-22; Isaiah 45:1-2. The account which Xenophon (“Cyrop.” vii. s.) gives of the taking of Babylon. and of the death of the king - though without mentioning his name, agrees so well with the statement here, that it may be regarded as a strong confirmation of its correctness. After describing the preparation made to take the city by draining off the waters of the Euphrates, so as to leave the channel dry beneath the walls for the amy of Cyrus, and after recording the charge which Cyrus gave to his generals Gadatas and Gobryas, he adds, “And indeed those who were with Gobryas said that it would not be wonderful if the gates of the palace should be found open, “as the whole city that night seemed to be given up to revelry” ὥς ἐν κώμῳ γὰρ δοκεῖ ἡ πόλις πᾶσα εἶναι τῇδε τῇ νυκτί hōs en kōmō gar dokei hē polis pasa einai tēde tē nukti.

He then says that as they passed on, after entering the city, “of those whom they encountered, part being smitten died, part fled again back, and part raised a clamor. But those who were with Gobryas also raised a clamor as if they also joined in the revelry, and going as fast as they could, they came soon to the palace of the king. But those who were with Gobryas and Gadatas being arrayed, found the gates of the palace closed, but those who were appointed to go against the guard of the palace fell upon them when drinking before a great light, and were quickly engaged with them in hostile combat. Then a cry arose, and they who were within having asked the cause of the tumult, the king commanded them to see what the affair was, and some of them rushing out opened the gates. As they who were with Gadatas saw the gates open, they rushed in, and pursuing those who attempted to return, and smiting them, they came to the king, and they found him standing with a drawn sabre - ἀκινάκην akinakēn And those who were with Gadatas and Gobryas overpowered him, ἐχειροῦντο echeirounto - and those who were with him were slain - one opposing, and one fleeing, and one seeking his safety in the best way he could. And Cyrus sent certain of his horsemen away, and commanded that they should put to death those whom they found out of their dwellings, but that those who were in their houses, and could speak the Syriac language, should be suffered to remain, but that whosoever should be found without should be put to death.

“These things they did. But Gadatas and Gobryas came up; and first they rendered thanks to the gods because they had taken vengeance on the impious king - ὅτι τετιμωρημένοι ἦσαν τὸν ἀνόσιον βασιλέα hoti tetimōrēmenoi ēsan ton anosion basilea. Then they kissed the hands and feet of Cyrus, weeping with joy and rejoicing. When it was day, and they who had the watch over the towers learned that the city was taken, and “that the king was dead” - τὸν βασιλέα τεθνηκότα ton basilea tethnēkota - they also surrendered the towers.” These extracts from Xenophon abundantly confirm what is here said in Daniel respecting the death of the king, and will more than neutralize what is said by Berosus. See Intro. to the chapter, Section II.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 5:30. In that night was Belshazzar - slain. — Xenophon says, he was despatched by two lords, Gadatas and Gobrias, who went over to Cyrus, to avenge themselves of certain wrongs which Belshazzar had done them. We have already seen that Cyrus entered the city by the bed of the Euphrates, which he had emptied, by cutting a channel for the waters, and directing them into the marshy country.