Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.
- BSB his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.
- NKJV Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.
- NASB Then the king’s face became pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints loosened and his knees began knocking together.
- NLT and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Belshazzar is seized with terror, trembling and weak with fear at the sign. The proud king is instantly reduced to dread before God's hand.
Overview
The man who moments earlier mocked the God of Israel now collapses inwardly with fear. His changed face and shaking limbs show how quickly human pride crumbles when confronted by divine reality. The fear of the Lord that should have governed his worship now overtakes him as terror, illustrating that those who will not bow willingly will one day tremble unavoidably.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Nah 2:10She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
- Ezek 7:17All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
- Dan 7:28Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
- Ps 69:23Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
- Ezek 21:7And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
- Dan 4:5I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Isa 13:7–8Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
- Dan 5:9–10Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
- Dan 4:19Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.
- Isa 5:27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
- Job 20:19–27Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
- Dan 2:1And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
- Job 15:20–27The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
- Ps 73:18–20Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- Heb 12:12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
- Isa 21:2–4A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
- Dan 3:19Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
- Isa 35:3Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
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Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 5:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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