Quick answer
Daniel 5 does not present wine as a badge of holy joy. It presents wine at the center of a proud feast that mocks God and ends in judgment.
Daniel 5:1 (KJV)
“Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.”
Daniel 5:2 (KJV)
“Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.”
Daniel 5:4 (KJV)
“They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”
Daniel 5:23 (KJV)
“But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:”
In the wider Bible-wine survey, these passages belong on the judgment side.
What these passages show
This scene matters because readers sometimes point to banquet wine scenes as if narrative presence were moral approval. Daniel 5 does the opposite. Wine here belongs to profanation and downfall.
Read them alongside is drinking a sin, wine as a curse in the Bible, and wine in the Bible.
Keep these texts together
Keep this chapter with the prophetic cup-of-wrath passages and with the texts that link wine to pride, mockery, and stumbling.
Frequently asked questions
Why include Daniel 5 in a wine study?
Because it shows a major wine scene where wine stands inside pride, blasphemy, and judgment rather than righteousness.
Does the feast itself prove normal drinking was approved?
No. Narrative mention is not moral approval, and this scene is explicitly condemnatory.