17 Then Dani’ĕl answered and said before the sovereign, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Yet I shall read the writing to the sovereign, and make known the interpretation to him.
18 “O sovereign, the Most High Elah gave Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar your father a reign and greatness, and preciousness and esteem.
19 “And because of the greatness which He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished he executed, and whomever he wished he kept alive, and whomever he wished he raised up, and whomever he wished he made low.
20 “But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was so strong as to act proudly, he was put down from his throne of reign, and they took his preciousness from him.
21 “Then he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, till he knew that the Most High Elah is ruler in the reign of men, and He sets up over it whomever He wishes.
22 “And you his son, Bĕlshatstsar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.
23 “And you have lifted yourself up against the Master of the heavens. And they brought before you the vessels of His house, and you and your great men, your wives and your concubines, have been drinking wine from them. And you have praised the elahin of silver, and of gold, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone, which neither see nor hear nor know. But the Elah who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not made great.