20 But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.
20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride,
20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.
20 He developed a big head and a hard spirit. Then God knocked him off his high horse and stripped him of his fame.
20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.
20 But when his heart and mind were puffed up with arrogance, he was brought down from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Daniel 5:20
Commentary on Daniel 5:18-31
(Read Daniel 5:18-31)
Daniel reads Belshazzar's doom. He had not taken warning by the judgments upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he had insulted God. Sinners are pleased with gods that neither see, nor hear, nor know; but they will be judged by One to whom all things are open. Daniel reads the sentence written on the wall. All this may well be applied to the doom of every sinner. At death, the sinner's days are numbered and finished; after death is the judgment, when he will be weighed in the balance, and found wanting; and after judgment the sinner will be cut asunder, and given as a prey to the devil and his angels. While these things were passing in the palace, it is considered that the army of Cyrus entered the city; and when Belshazzar was slain, a general submission followed. Soon will every impenitent sinner find the writing of God's word brought to pass upon him, whether he is weighed in the balance of the law as a self-righteous Pharisee, or in that of the gospel as a painted hypocrite.