Daniel 5:2

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

Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain

WHERE: Jerusalem
WHEN: 539 BC

Open in the reader ← 5:1 5:3 →

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Jerusalem Judea · today Jerusalem

WHEN

539 BC

counted from the text

The feast and the fall of the city on the same night.

WHO RULED

Belshazzar king of Babylon 553-539 BC
Cyrus the Great king of Persia 559-530 BC

MEANWHILE

539 BC Babylon

Cyrus takes Babylon without a battle

The city surrenders, and a year later comes the decree that allows the Jews to return.

SOURCES

date — Daniel 5 tells of the night, not the year. The Cyrus Cylinder and the Nabonidus Chronicle date the fall of Babylon to October 539 BC.
Belshazzar — The Nabonidus Chronicle and the tablets that name Belshazzar as son and co-regent. The co-regency explains why, in Daniel 5:7 and 5:29, the reward is *third* place in the kingdom and not second.
Cyrus the Great — Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum), which records the policy of sending peoples and their cults back to their own lands; Herodotus I
Cyrus takes Babylon without a battle — Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum); Nabonidus Chronicle

Daniel 5:2

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