The Writing on the Wall: A Night in the Lions' Den and the Ancient of Days | Daniel 5–8

Word for Word: The Bible · Sep 21, 2026 · 25m

Episode Overview

Today we read Daniel chapters 5 through 8. Belshazzar throws a feast and drinks from vessels looted from the temple in Jerusalem—a deliberate act of contempt. A hand appears and writes four words on the plaster, and none of his advisors can read them. Daniel does: your days are numbered, you have been weighed and found wanting, your kingdom is divided. That night Babylon falls. The empire that seemed permanent lasted exactly as long as the sentence took to be carried out.

Under the new regime Daniel's rivals cannot find anything to charge him with, so they engineer a law…