and his face turned pale with fright. His knees knocked together in fear and his legs gave way beneath him.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
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, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
- Ezek 7:17All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water.
- Dan 7:28Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my face was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
- Ps 69:23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.
- Ezek 21:7It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’”
- Dan 4:5I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Isa 13:7–8Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt.
- Dan 5:9–10Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his face was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.
- Dan 4:19Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream, or the interpretation, trouble you. Belteshazzar answered, My lord, the dream be to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries.
- Isa 5:27No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken:
- Job 20:19–27For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
- Dan 2:1In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.
- Job 15:20–27the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
- Ps 73:18–20Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
- Heb 12:12Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
- Isa 21:2–4A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing.
- Dan 3:19Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
- Isa 35:3Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm 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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