Discovery BoxDaniel 5:5-6 
Context5:5 At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared 1 and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. 2 The king was watching the back 3 of the hand that was writing. 5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face 4 and he became alarmed. 5 The joints of his hips gave way, 6 and his knees began knocking together.
Daniel 5:10
Context5:10 Due to the noise 7 caused by the king and his nobles, the queen mother 8 then entered the banquet room. She 9 said, “O king, live forever! Don’t be alarmed! Don’t be shaken!
1 tn Aram “came forth.”
2 sn The mention of the lampstand in this context is of interest because it suggests that the writing was in clear view.
3 tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.
4 tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”
5 tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”
6 tn Aram “his loins went slack.”
7 tn Aram “words of the king.”
8 tn Aram “the queen” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). In the following discourse this woman is able to recall things about Daniel that go back to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, things that Belshazzar does not seem to recollect. It is likely that she was the wife not of Belshazzar but of Nabonidus or perhaps even Nebuchadnezzar. In that case, “queen” here means “queen mother” (cf. NCV “the king’s mother”).
9 tn Aram “The queen.” The translation has used the pronoun “she” instead because repetition of the noun here would be redundant in terms of English style.
