# Daniel 5:8

> So all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or interpret it for him.

— Daniel 5:8, 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

- Daniel 2:27 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/2/27
- Genesis 41:8 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/genesis/41/8
- Daniel 4:7 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/4/7

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

## Questions linked to this verse

- Which king of Babylon saw writing on a wall that his wise men could not read? — https://scriptoria.digital/en/questions/01a151d8-1aae-7268-abe9-080001fc91ec

## This document

- Canonical: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/8
- Whole chapter: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5
- License: Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. Source: Scriptoria (scriptoria.digital).