The Prophet Daniel. Artist: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Engraver: G. I, inscribed lower left. Source: Die Bibel in Bildern, Plate 143. Click on image to enlarge it.
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 Bible]
Although Bible in Pictures quotes the prophet’s interpretation of “the writing on the wall,” the picture actually depicts the earlier lines in this chapter that tell when Belshazzar “made a great feast to a thousand of his lords . . . [there] 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 . . . . Then was Daniel brought in before the king” [Daniel 5:1, 5, 13]. — George P. Landow
Related material
- Gustave Doré’s Daniel interpreting the writing on the wall
- The Allusion to "The Writing on the Wall" in Dickens's Hard Times and Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
- The Victorian Sages and Reading the Fire Writing on the Wall
- Carlyle's use of “Writing on the Wall” in The French Revolution
You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Digital Trust Library and the Getty Library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Bibliography
Die Bibel in Bildern [Picture Bible] von Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Leipzig: Georg Wigands, 1860. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the Getty Library. Web. 30 June 2016.
Last modified 5 July 2016