⁵ Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the ^[a]back of the hand that did the writing. ⁶ Then the king’s ^[b](A)face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his ^(B)hip joints went slack and his ^(C)knees began knocking together. ⁷ The king called aloud to bring in the ^(D)conjurers, the ^[c]Chaldeans and the diviners. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, “Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be ^(E)clothed with purple and have a ^(F)necklace of gold around his neck, and have authority as ^[d](G)third ruler in the kingdom.”