young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace—and to teach them the Chaldean language and literature.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.

At the end of 12 months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon,

At that moment the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the king’s palace wall next to the lampstand. As the king watched the hand that was writing,

Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and he could not sleep.