Were the nations whom my predecessors ¹  destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ² 

So ¹  I was far wealthier ²  than all my predecessors in Jerusalem, yet I maintained my objectivity: ³ 

As for you, O king, the most high God bestowed on your father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty. ¹ 

so that he may initiate a search of the records ¹  of his predecessors ²  and discover in those records ³  that this city is rebellious ⁴  and injurious to both kings and provinces, producing internal revolts ⁵  from long ago. ⁶  It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed.

In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. ¹ 

He removed the male cultic prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the disgusting idols ¹  his ancestors ²  had made.

Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods? ¹ 

I will become his father and he will become my son. I will never withhold my loyal love from him, as I withheld it from the one who ruled before you. ¹ 

‘Look, a time is coming when everything in your palace and the things your ancestors ¹  have accumulated to this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.

So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?

You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, ¹  which will have been defined ²  in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ³ 

Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors ¹  have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power? ² 

Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power? ¹ 

I thought to myself, ¹  “I have become much wiser ²  than any of my predecessors who ruled ³  over Jerusalem; ⁴  I ⁵  have acquired much wisdom and knowledge.” ⁶ 

I purchased male and female slaves, and I owned slaves who were born in my house; ¹  I also possessed more livestock – both herds and flocks – than any of my predecessors in Jerusalem. ² 

Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how ¹  can your gods rescue ²  you from my power?’”

While under the influence ¹  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ²  had confiscated ³  from the temple in Jerusalem ⁴  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ⁵ 

There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have ¹  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ²  of the gods. ³  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ⁴