# Daniel 5:23

> Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

— Daniel 5:23, Berean Standard Bible

## When

- 539 BC (counted from the text)
- Date source: 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.

## Who ruled

- **Belshazzar**, king of Babylon, 553-539 BC · Source: 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**, king of Persia, 559-530 BC · Source: Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum), which records the policy of sending peoples and their cults back to their own lands; Herodotus I

## See also

- Job 12:10 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/job/12/10
- Daniel 4:37 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/4/37
- Isaiah 2:12 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/isaiah/2/12
- Isaiah 37:23 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/isaiah/37/23
- Jeremiah 10:23 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/jeremiah/10/23
- Job 31:4 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/job/31/4
- Psalms 115:4-8 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/psalms/115/4
- Proverbs 20:24 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/proverbs/20/24

Cross-references: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0.

## This document

- Canonical: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/23
- Whole chapter: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5
- License: Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. Source: Scriptoria (scriptoria.digital).