23 and against the Lord of the heavens thou hast lifted up thyself; and the vessels of His house they have brought in before thee, and thou, and thy great men, thy wives, and thy concubines, are drinking wine with them, and gods of silver, and of gold, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone, that are not seeing, nor hearing, nor knowing, thou hast praised: and the God in whose hand `is' thy breath, and all thy ways, Him thou hast not honoured.
I have known, O Jehovah, that not of man `is' his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step.
In whose hand `is' the breath of every living thing, And the spirit of all flesh of man.'
Summon unto Babylon archers, all treading the bow, Encamp against her round about, Let `her' have no escape; Recompense to her according to her work, According to all that she did -- do to her, For unto Jehovah she hath been proud, Unto the Holy One of Israel.
Their idols `are' silver and gold, work of man's hands, A mouth they have, and they speak not, Eyes they have, and they see not, Ears they have, and they hear not, A nose they have, and they smell not, Their hands, but they handle not, Their feet, and they walk not; Nor do they mutter through their throat, Like them are their makers, Every one who is trusting in them.
so as to put their gods into fire -- for they `are' no gods, but work of the hands of man, wood and stone -- and they destroy them.
Thou hast certainly smitten Edom, and thy heart hath lifted thee up; be honoured, and abide in thy house; and why dost thou stir thyself up in evil, that thou hast fallen, thou, and Judah with thee?'
From Jehovah `are' the steps of a man, And man -- how understandeth he his way?
For a day `is' to Jehovah of Hosts, For every proud and high one, And for every lifted up and low one,
What profit hath a graven image given That its former hath graven it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, That trusted hath the former on his own formation -- to make dumb idols? Wo `to' him who is saying to wood, `Awake,' `Stir up,' to a dumb stone, It a teacher! lo, it is overlaid -- gold and silver, And there is no spirit in its midst.
for in Him we live, and move, and are; as also certain of your poets have said: For of Him also we are offspring. `Being, therefore, offspring of God, we ought not to think the Godhead to be like to gold, or silver, or stone, graving of art and device of man;
And there was given to it a mouth speaking great things, and evil-speakings, and there was given to it authority to make war forty-two months, and it did open its mouth for evil-speaking toward God, to speak evil of His name, and of His tabernacle, and of those who in the heaven tabernacle,
and there is not a created thing not manifest before Him, but all things `are' naked and open to His eyes -- with whom is our reckoning.
not a new convert, lest having been puffed up he may fall to a judgment of the devil;
because, having known God they did not glorify `Him' as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened, professing to be wise, they were made fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.
Thus said God, Jehovah, preparing The heavens, and stretching them out, Spreading out the earth and its productions, Giving breath to the people on it, And spirit to those walking in it.
and the princes of the Philistines have been gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; and they say, `Our god hath given into our hand Samson our enemy.'
And the Philistines have taken the ark of God, and bring it in from Eben-Ezer to Ashdod, and the Philistines take the ark of God and bring it into the house of Dagon, and set it near Dagon. And the Ashdodites rise early on the morrow, and lo, Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth, before the ark of Jehovah; and they take Dagon, and put it back to its place. And they rise early in the morning on the morrow, and lo, Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth, before the ark of Jehovah, and the head of Dagon, and the two palms of its hands are cut off at the threshold, only the fishy part hath been left to him; therefore the priests of Dagon, and all those coming into the house of Dagon, tread not on the threshold of Dagon, in Ashdod, till this day. And the hand of Jehovah is heavy on the Ashdodites, and He maketh them desolate, and smiteth them with emerods, Ashdod and its borders. And the men of Ashdod see that `it is' so, and have said, `The ark of the God of Israel doth not abide with us, for hard hath been His hand upon us, and upon Dagon our god.' And they send and gather all the princes of the Philistines unto them, and say, `What do we do to the ark of the God of Israel?' and they say, `To Gath let the ark of the God of Israel be brought round;' and they bring round the ark of the God of Israel; and it cometh to pass after they have brought it round, that the hand of Jehovah is against the city -- a very great destruction; and He smiteth the men of the city, from small even unto great; and break forth on them do emerods.
Thou hidest Thy face -- they are troubled, Thou gatherest their spirit -- they expire, And unto their dust they turn back.
The heavens -- the heavens `are' Jehovah's, And the earth He hath given to sons of men,
His spirit goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, In that day have his thoughts perished.
Now, do I arise, saith Jehovah, Now I am exalted, now I am lifted up.
-- They are pouring out gold from a bag, And silver on the beam they weigh, They hire a refiner, and he maketh it a god, They fall down, yea, they bow themselves. They lift him up on the shoulder, They carry him, and cause him to rest in his place, And he standeth, from his place he moveth not, Yea, one crieth unto him, and he answereth not, From his adversity he saveth him not.
`Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart hath been high, And thou dost say: A god I `am', The habitation of God I have inhabited, In the heart of the seas, And thou `art' man, and not God, And thou givest out thy heart as the heart of God,
High hath been thy heart, because of thy beauty, Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom because of thy brightness, On the earth I have cast thee, Before kings I have set thee, to look on thee,
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because that thou hast been high in stature, And he yieldeth his foliage between thickets, And high is his heart in his haughtiness,
Belshazzar hath said -- while tasting the wine -- to bring in the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple that `is' in Jerusalem, that drink with them may the king, and his great men, his wives, and his concubines. Then they have brought in the vessels of gold that had been taken out of the temple of the house of God that `is' in Jerusalem, and drunk with them have the king and his great men, his wives and his concubines; they have drunk wine, and have praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
Lo, a presumptuous one! Not upright is his soul within him, And the righteous by his stedfastness liveth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Daniel 5
Commentary on Daniel 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
The destruction of the kingdom of Babylon had been long and often foretold when it was at a distance; in this chapter we have it accomplished, and a prediction of it the very same night that it was accomplished. Belshazzar now reigned in Babylon; some compute he had reigned seventeen years, others but three; we have here the story of his exit and the period of his kingdom. We must know that about two years before this Cyrus king of Persia, a growing monarch, came against Babylon with a great army; Belshazzar met him, fought him, and was routed by him in a pitched battle. He and his scattered forces retired into the city, where Cyrus besieged them. They were very secure, because the river Euphrates was their bulwark, and they had twenty years; provision in the city; but in the second year of the siege he took it, as is here related. We have in this chapter,
Dan 5:1-9
We have here Belshazzar the king very gay, but all of a sudden very gloomy, and in straits in the fulness of his sufficiency. See how he affronts God, and God affrights him; and wait what will be the issue of this contest; and whether he that hardened his heart against God prospered.
Dan 5:10-29
Here is,
Dan 5:30-31
Here is,