Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his {f} knees smote one against another.

(f) So he that before condemned God, was moved by this sight to tremble for fear of God's judgments.

Wesley's Notes

5:6 His knees smote - So soon can the terrors of God make the loftiest cedars, the tyrants of the earth.

King James Translators' Notes

countenance: Chaldee, brightnesses

was changed: Chaldee, changed it

joints: or, girdles: Chaldee, bindings, or, knots

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. countenance-literally, "brightness," that is, his bright look.

joints of his loins-"the vertebræ of his back" [Gesenius].

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-9 Belshazzar bade defiance to the judgments of God. Most historians consider that Cyrus then besieged Babylon. Security and sensuality are sad proofs of approaching ruin. That mirth is sinful indeed, which profanes sacred things; and what are many of the songs used at modern feasts better than the praises sung by the heathens to their gods! See how God struck terror upon Belshazzar and his lords. God's written word is enough to put the proudest, boldest sinner in a fright. What we see of God, the part of the hand that writes in the book of the creatures, and in the book of the Scriptures, should fill us with awful thoughts concerning that part which we do not see. If this be the finger of God, what is his arm when made bare? And what is He? The king's guilty conscience told him that he had no reason to expect any good news from heaven. God can, in a moment, make the heart of the stoutest sinner to tremble; and there needs no more than to let loose his own thoughts upon him; they will give him trouble enough. No bodily pain can equal the inward agony which sometimes seizes the sinner in the midst of mirth, carnal pleasures, and worldly pomp. Sometimes terrors cause a man to flee to Christ for pardon and peace; but many cry out for fear of wrath, who are not humbled for their sins, and who seek relief by lying vanities. The ignorance and uncertainty concerning the Holy Scriptures, shown by many who call themselves wise, only tend to drive sinners to despair, as the ignorance of these wise men did.