Ah, sword of the LORD! How long will you be restless? Go back to your scabbard; be still; be silent!

I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into enemy hands.

For the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh with His fiery sword, and many will be slain by the LORD.

Then the word of the LORD came to me:

A sword will whirl through his cities; it will destroy and devour the bars of his gates, because of their schemes.

Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind!"

Put all her young bulls to the sword; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, because their day has come, the time of their punishment.

Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will be silenced in that day. [This is] the LORD's declaration.

While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they revel. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up. [This is] the LORD's declaration.

I will make her princes and sages drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up. [This is] the King's declaration; the LORD of Hosts is His name.

"I have raised up one from the north, and he has come, one from the east who invokes My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mud, like a potter who treads the clay.

King Belshazzar held a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles and drank wine in their presence.

Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, wives, and concubines could drink from them.

That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed,

The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they really have?

Who should not fear You, King of the nations? It is what You deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

The princes of Zoan are complete fools; Pharaoh's wisest advisers give stupid advice! How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise, a student of eastern kings."

The princes of Zoan have been fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.

therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

who destroys the omens of the false prophets and makes fools of diviners; who confounds the wise and makes their knowledge foolishness;

You are worn out with your many consultations. So let them stand and save you-- the astrologers, who observe the stars, who predict monthly what will happen to you.

Look, they are like stubble; fire burns them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. This is not a coal for warming themselves, or a fire to sit beside!

The king called out to bring in the mediums, Chaldeans, and astrologers. He said to these wise men of Babylon, "Whoever reads this inscription and gives me its interpretation will be clothed in purple, have a gold chain around his neck, and have the third highest position in the kingdom."

So all the king's wise men came in, but none could read the inscription or make known its interpretation to him.