Belshazzar's Feast

The Chaldean ruler Belshazzar organizes a feast and uses the silverware his ancestor Nebuchadnezzar stole from the temple in Jerusalem. During the feast a hand appears that writes on the wall. Belshazzar consults his experts to discover the meaning of the writing, but to no avail. Only Daniel can read it – according to Rembrandt and a rabbi he consulted because the words were written vertically.

This writing is indeed the writing on the wall – the very next day the sacrilegious king is struck dead.

The meaning of the writing is explained at the end of Daniel 5.