¹⁶ They went out at noon, while ^(A)Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the ^[a]temporary shelters ^[b]with the thirty-two kings who were helping him. ¹⁷ The young men of the leaders of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, “Men have come out from Samaria.” ^18 (B)Then he said, “If they have come out ^[c]for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive as well.”

¹⁹ So these men went out from the city, the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and the army which followed them. ²⁰ And they ^[d]killed, each one, his man; and the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, and Ben-hadad the king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen. ²¹ The king of Israel also went out and struck the horses and chariots, and ^[e]killed the Arameans in a great slaughter.

⁴ They ^(A)drank the wine and praised the gods of ^(B)gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

⁵ Suddenly the fingers of a human hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. ⁶ Then the king’s ^[a](C)face became pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his ^(D)hip joints ^[b]loosened and his ^(E)knees began knocking together.

³⁰ That same night ^(A)Belshazzar the Chaldean king was ^(B)killed.