How long will you smite, O sword of the Lord? How long will it be till you are quiet? Return into your sheath, rest, and be removed.

And I will bring upon you a sword avenging the cause of [My] covenant, and you shall flee for refuge to your cities; and I will send out death against you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies.

For with the fire of the Lord all the earth shall be judged, and all flesh with His sword; many shall be slain by the Lord.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

And in his cities he prevailed not with the sword, and he ceased [to war] with his hands; and they shall eat [of the fruit] of their own devices.

Alas for the vain shepherds that have forsaken the sheep! The sword shall be upon the arms of such a one, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be completely withered, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Dry up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, and the time of their retribution.

Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, says the Lord.

In their excitement I will give them a drink, and make them drunk, that they may be stupefied, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and not awake, says the Lord.

The Lord recompenses, and will make her leaders and her wise men and her captains completely drunk, says the King, the Lord Almighty is His name.

But I have raised up him that [comes] from the north, and him that [comes] from the rising of the sun; they shall be called by My name; let the princes come, and as potter's clay, and as a potter treading clay, so shall you be trodden down.

Belshazzar the king made a great supper for his thousand nobles, and [there was] wine before the thousand.

And Belshazzar, drinking, gave orders as he tasted the wine that they should bring the gold and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought forth from the temple in Jerusalem; that the king, and his nobles, and his mistresses, and his concubines, should drink out of them.

In the same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.

The wise men are ashamed, and alarmed, and taken; because they have rejected the word of the Lord; what wisdom is there in them?

[This translation omits this verse.]

And the princes of Tanis shall be fools; [as for] the king's wise counselors, their counsel shall be turned into folly; how will you say to the king, we are sons of wise men, sons of ancient kings?

The princes of Tanis have failed, and the princes of Memphis are lifted up [with pride], and they shall cause Egypt to wander by tribes.

Therefore behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I will remove them; and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will hide the understanding of the prudent.

Who else will frustrate the tokens of those that have divining spirits, and prophecies from the heart of [man]? Turning the wise back, and making their counsel foolishness;

You are wearied in your counsels. Let now the astrologers of the heaven stand and deliver you, let them that see the stars tell you what is about to come upon you.

Behold, they all shall be burned up as sticks in the fire; neither shall they at all deliver their life from the flame. Because you have coals of fire, sit upon them;

And the king cried aloud to bring in the magicians, Chaldeans, [and] soothsayers. And he said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and make known to me the interpretation, shall be clothed with scarlet, and [there shall be] a golden chain upon his neck, and he shall be the third ruler in my kingdom.

Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing, nor make known its interpretation to the king.