Intro: G - G - D - D - G 
 
(G) Well the *Bible tells us about a man 
(G) Who ruled Babylon and (C) all it's (G) land 
(G) Around the city he built a wall 
(G) And declared that Babylon would (D) never (G) fall 
 
He had concubines and wives  
He called his Babylon "Paradise" 
On his throne he drank and ate 
But for Belshazzer it was getting late 
 
Chorus: 
(G) For he was weighed in the balance and found wanting 
(G) His kingdom was divided, couldn't stand (D) 
(D) He was (G) weighed in the balance and found wanting 
(G) His houses were (D) built upon the sand (G) 
 
Solo: G - G - D - D - G 
 
The people feast and drank their wine   
And praised the false gods of his time  
All holy things were scorned and mocked  
But suddenly all their mocking stopped 
  
For on the wall there appeared a hand 
Nothing else, there was no man 
And but, the hand began to write  
And Belshazzar couldn't hide his fright 
 
For he was weighed in the balance and found wanting 
His kingdom was divided, couldn't stand 
He was weighed in the balance and found wanting 
His houses were built upon the sand  
 
Solo: G - G - D - D - G 
 
Well no one around could understand 
What was written by the mystic hand 
Belshazzar tried but couldn't find 
A man who could give him piece of mind 
 
But Daniel the prophet, the man of God 
He saw the writing on the wall in blood 
Belshazzar asked him what it said 
And Daniel turned to the wall and read 
 
"My friend your weighed in the balance and found wanting 
Your kingdom was divided, it can't stand 
Your weighed in the balance and found wanting 
Your houses were built upon the sand"  
 
Ending: G - G - D - D - G 
 
*Here is the scr i pture from the Bible (KJV) that 
"Belshazzer" by Johnny Cash is based on: 
 
Daniel 5:1-Belshazzar the king made a great  
feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine 
before the thousand. 
 
Daniel 5:4-8- They drank wine and praised the gods  
of gold, and silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of 
stone. 
 
In the same hour came forth fingers of a man, and 
wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster 
of the wall of the king's palace: and Belshazzar saw  
the part of the hand that wrote. 
 
Then the king's countenance was charged, 
and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his 
loins were loosed, and his knees smote against one another. 
Belshazzar cried out loud to bring in the astrologers, the  
Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said 
Whoever can read this writing and explain it to me, you will 
be clothed in scarlet, and have a chain of gold around his neck 
and be the third ruler of Babylon. 
 
Then the wise men were brought in and could not read 
the writing. 
 
Daniel 5:12-An excellent spirit, the knowledge, and understanding, 
and showing of hard sentences and his name was Daniel. (He was  
brought before the king) 
 
Daniel 5: 24-28 - Then was the part of the hand sent from him; 
and this writing was written. 
 
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Opharsin. 
 
This is the translation: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom 
and finished it. 
 
Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 
 
Opharsin; Thy kingdom is divided.