“Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.”
Then the king's face turned pale, and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The king's terror at the writing on the wall is immediate and complete: his face turns pale, his thoughts become alarmed, his body loses strength, his knees shake uncontrollably. The physical symptoms of fear emphasize the supernatural terror of the moment; this is not political or military threat but cosmic dread before divine judgment. The description of the king's loss of physical control—limbs giving way, knees knocking—suggests that Belshazzar intuitively recognizes this as divine judgment, even before the writing's meaning is explained. The contrast between the king's confident, drunken celebration moments before and his abject terror now illustrates how suddenly divine judgment can overturn human security.
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