Johnny Cash Johnny Cash - Belshazzar Lyrics

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 scripture 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.

For further reading, stop by Daniel 5 and check it out!
Tyler