Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded that the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem be brought to him; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them. There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. The king Nebuchadnezzar your father, yes, the king, your father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers; “You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty. “You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,
An ancient author identified the wrong person as the last king of Babylon, got his father wrong, and skipped several rulers in the succession.
History/Archaeology
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The cited passage
Anatomy of the claim
- Documented The Neo-Babylonian king list runs Nebuchadnezzar II (to 562 BCE), Amel-Marduk, Neriglissar, Labashi-Marduk, then Nabonidus (556–539 BCE). British Museum
- Documented Cuneiform records document Belshazzar as the son of Nabonidus, exercising royal authority in Babylon while Nabonidus resided at Teima. Yale Babylonian Collection; British Museum
- Debated Whether Belshazzar’s documented co-regency and a Semitic use of “father” for a dynastic predecessor account for the passage, or a confused succession points to later composition, is debated. Raymond Dougherty, Nabonidus and Belshazzar (Yale, 1929); Alan Millard (1985); John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia)
What the text says
This comes from Daniel 5:1-2, 11, 18, 22. The text calls Belshazzar 'king' and Nebuchadnezzar his 'father,' but Belshazzar was never king — he was viceroy under his actual father, Nabonidus. The author skips at least three kings between Nebuchadnezzar and the fall of Babylon.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.