5:17–6:3D aniel169Daniel answered the king, “Keep your gifts or give them to someoneelse, but I will tell you what the writing means. Your Majesty, the MostHigh God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honor to your predecessor,Nebuchadnezzar. He made him so great that people of all races and nations and languages trembled before him in fear. He killed those he wantedto kill and spared those he wanted to spare. He honored those he wantedto honor and disgraced those he wanted to disgrace. But when his heartand mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from hisroyal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven from human society.He was given the mind of a wild animal, and he lived among the wild donkeys. He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven,until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of theworld and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them.“You are his successor, O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you havenot humbled yourself. For you have proudly defied the Lord of heavenand have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You andyour nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine fromthem while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and s tone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have nothonored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny! So God has sent this hand to write this message.“This is the message that was written: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is what these words mean:Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reignand has brought it to an end.Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances andhave not measured up.Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given tothe Medes and Persians.”Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was dressed in purple robes, agold chain was hung around his neck, and he was proclaimed the thirdhighest ruler in the kingdom.That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, andhe appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also choseDaniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers andprotect the king’s interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable thanImmerseChronicles_NLT.indd 1696/21/2017 10:01:41 AM
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