The Last Scribe

Daniel 5 · 31 verses · Belshazzar’s banquet house

Daniel 5 as a game: the feast, the writing on the wall and Daniel’s reading

Stand in the king’s palace on the last night of Babylon, when Belshazzar drinks from the vessels of God’s house. See a hand write on the wall, watch the wise men fail, and hear Daniel read the words.

Play free Try the quiz questions

No download. Plays in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Revelation 1 and the Baptism of Jesus are free to try first.

What you will see

One night in Babylon, told from the feast to the new king

You arrive as a Scribe, sent to witness the chapter and write it down. Daniel 5 is one map you can walk end to end, and the people of the chapter stand on it: King Belshazzar, the queen who remembered Daniel, the wise men who could not read the writing, Daniel, now an old man, the writing itself, and Darius the Median. Each speaks only from their own verses, so what you hear is the chapter, in order.

Five things wait to be found and read. See the golden and silver vessels taken out of the temple at Jerusalem and brought to the feast. Find the plaister of the wall where the words were written, and a pair of balance scales for the word TEKEL. Read of the river that ran under the city walls, and of the scarlet, the chain of gold and the third place in the kingdom that the king offered to any reader. The quest takes you through them in the chapter’s order: the hall, the vessels, the writing, the wise men, the queen, Daniel’s reading, and the kingdom passing to Darius that same night.

The reading is told as Daniel gives it: “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Before he reads, he reminds the king how the most high God humbled his father. When you have seen it all, step into the quiz zone and fifteen questions ask what you saw.

Daniel 5 in the game: the map of the chapter with its people standing where the passage puts them
The game itself, not a mock-up: Daniel 5.

The chapter, in order

The quest, Weighed in the Balances, has seven steps, and they follow the chapter in order. Nothing is added to the text; the steps are a way of making sure you miss none of it.

  1. Enter the banquet hall of Belshazzar
  2. Witness the temple vessels brought in for the feast
  3. See the fingers of a man’s hand write on the wall
  4. See the wise men of Babylon fail to read the writing
  5. Hear the queen mother remember Daniel
  6. Stand with Daniel as he reads the writing
  7. Witness the fall of Babylon in that same night

Who you meet

Six people and voices stand in the chapter. Each speaks only from their own place in the chapter.

  • Belshazzar, the Last King of Babylon — the king who made “a great feast to a thousand of his lords” and called for the vessels of God’s house.
  • The Queen Mother — the queen who came into the banquet house and told the king of “a man in thy kingdom” with an excellent spirit.
  • Daniel, the Aged Prophet — the old prophet who refused the king’s gifts, reminded him of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, and read the writing.
  • The Failed Wise Men — the astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers who “could not read the writing”.
  • The Handwriting on the Wall — the writing sent from God, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” (5:25), and what each word means.
  • Darius the Mede — the Median who “took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old”, and tells you the prophets had said it would come.

What you find

Walk up to any of these and the game reads you the verses it comes from, in the King James Version.

  • The Profaned Temple Vessels (Daniel 5:2–3)
  • The Plaster Wall (Daniel 5:5, 25)
  • The Balance Scales (Daniel 5:27)
  • The Diverted Euphrates (Daniel 5:30)
  • The Rejected Rewards (Daniel 5:7, 17)

The writing, and what it means

“And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Daniel 5:25–28, King James Version

Every verse the game quotes is the KJV. Where a character speaks in their own words, the dialogue is written from the chapter and checked against our doctrinal rules before release. The about page says plainly how we read the Bible.

Try five of the fifteen

Daniel 5 quiz questions, with answers

Five real questions from the Daniel 5 quiz, in the game's own words. In the game the options are shuffled every time, and you need 70% to pass.

1. How many of his lords did Belshazzar invite to the feast in Daniel 5?

  1. Seventy
  2. A hundred
  3. A thousand
  4. Ten thousand
Show the answer

C. A thousand “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.”

Daniel 5:1

2. What appeared in the banquet hall during the feast?

  1. An angel with a drawn sword
  2. A pillar of fire
  3. A burning bush
  4. The fingers of a man’s hand, writing on the plaster of the wall
Show the answer

D. The fingers of a man’s hand, writing on the plaster of the wall “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”

Daniel 5:5

3. Who reminded Belshazzar of Daniel?

  1. The queen mother
  2. His chief cupbearer
  3. Daniel’s three Hebrew companions
  4. Arioch, captain of the guard
Show the answer

A. The queen mother “The queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the... ’There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy... Now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.’”

Daniel 5:10–12

4. What rebuke did Daniel deliver before reading the writing?

  1. That Belshazzar had not humbled his heart even though he knew how God had humbled Nebuchadnezzar
  2. That he had married a foreign wife
  3. That he had failed to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem
  4. That he had over-taxed the provinces
Show the answer

A. That Belshazzar had not humbled his heart even though he knew how God had humbled Nebuchadnezzar “And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven.” The sin of knowing and still refusing to humble oneself is more dangerous than the sin of ignorance.

Daniel 5:22

5. What does TEKEL mean in Daniel’s interpretation?

  1. You have conquered many nations
  2. You have been measured as tall enough
  3. You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting
  4. You have ruled with wisdom
Show the answer

C. You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting “TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” The word shares its root with “shekel,” the standard weight of silver. Every life and every kingdom is weighed on the scales of heaven.

Daniel 5:27

Right answers pay 10 XP each and a perfect score pays 50 more. In a room, everyone answers the same quiz and sees how the others did. More on how the quiz works.

Chapter facts

31
verses, every one covered by something you see, hear or read
15
quiz questions, each tied to a verse
6
people and voices to speak with
5
things to find and read
1–6
players in a room; solo play is fine too
KJV
every verse quoted from the King James Version

How to play it

  1. Open the game in your browser and make an account. A child under 13 gives a parent's email instead of their own, and the parent confirms before the child can play with anyone else; see the page for parents.
  2. Play the short intro story in the Archivery, the library where the Scribe finds the Book. It is free and takes a few minutes.
  3. Open the world map and choose Daniel 5. To play with others, start a room and share its code, which looks like SCRIBE-7K4P2Q; up to six people can join from their own devices.
  4. Walk the map, speak with everyone, read everything, then step into the quiz zone.

Free, and with a subscription

Daniel 5 is part of the subscription ($9.99 a month or $79.99 a year). Chapters open in Bible order along a road through the books, era by era, so Daniel 5 opens when you reach Daniel on that road; nobody skips ahead. See pricing.

Free forever, for every player: the intro story, Revelation 1, the story scene The Baptism of Jesus, and four open lands to walk with other players: the City of the Last Days, the Garden of Eden, Judea in the days of Jesus, and Patmos and the Seven Churches. Revelation 1 is a good first chapter to try before you subscribe.

More to play

  • Before: Daniel 4 — Read the chapter as Nebuchadnezzar wrote it, a letter to all the earth about what the high God did for him.
  • After: Daniel 6 — Stand in Babylon when Daniel is past eighty, set over the whole realm, and watched by men who can find no fault in him except his God.
  • Every chapter and story with a page: the list of what you can play.

Read the writing on the wall.

Daniel 5 takes about twenty minutes alone, a little longer with friends in a room.

Start with the free chapters