Belshazzar’s Feast

There was a king of Babylon,
Belshazzar was his name;
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great--O!
He held a feast for all his lords,
A thousand of them came;
To the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
They drank wine and praised their gods of gold and silver,
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!

But that same hour God’s hand appeared
And wrote upon the wall;
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
Now King Belshazzar shook with fear,
His wise men he did call;
To the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
But the wise men could not understand the writing,
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!

And then the Queen of Babylon
Spoke these words to the king;
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
“Remember Daniel, man of God?
For he can tell this thing!”
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
So the king called Daniel there to solve the riddle,
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!

So Daniel spoke, he told the king
The judgment of the Lord;
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
“Your kingdom’s days are finished now,
It shall not be restored”
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!
On that night the king was slain, he lost his kingdom,
In the mighty halls of Babylon the great–O!

Tune: Jordan’s Shore, J.T. White, 1854
Lyrics: Brian L. Penney, 2008
(This song was written for Vacation Bible School...obviously not for corporate worship on the Lord's Day.)

Anthology of the American Hymn-Tune Repertory