Daniel5:2

Previous Verse Next Verse

Translation

While BELSHAZZAR ate wine,

Go to footnote number

he gave the command to bring the vessels of gold and silver which his father NEBUCHADNEZZAR,

Go to footnote number

had taken from the temple which had been in JERUSALEM, so that the king, his nobles and his wives and concubines could drink from them.

Paraphrase

Because BEL PROTECT THE KING had been ingesting wine, he commanded that the articles of gold and silver which his predecessor, NEBO PROTECT MY JACKASS, had brought from the temple of the God of Israel in THE PLACE OF PEACEFUL FOUNDATIONS, so that he, his powerful leaders, and even his women could show that they were more powerful than the God of Israel.

Footnotes

1

This word means “taste or eat;” its most common usage seems to have been “to eat.” I think the phrase “eat wine” was chosen rather than “drink wine” because the author knew what was coming later in the story and he used this verb to set up the statement made in 5:21 about Nebuchadnezzar having to “eat grass” which uses a different form of the same verb.

2

The biblical account always uses a mocking misspelling of the name, thus changing the meaning of the name. For more details, see my Strange Story called The Name Nebuchadnezzar.

Was Nebuchadnezzar really his father? I think the most reasonable way to understand this is to see “father” as “predecessor.” Once again the author has in mind the contrast which will be made later in the story between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and he is setting up that contrast here with the use of “predecessor.” As the story develops, we will see in what way Nebuchadnezzar was the predecessor of Belshazzar.