Handwriting on the wall

This phrase is often heard as a portent of doom. “When the candidate saw the early returns from normally ‘safe’ wards, he know they were the handwriting on the wall and that he was doomed to defeat.” The expression was inspired by a line from the Bible (Daniel 5: 25-31). Belshazzar learned that he was about to lose his kingdom when the words “Mene, mene, teckel, upsharsin” magically appeared on the wall of the place “This is the interpretation of the thing . . . God hath number they kingdom and finished it . . . Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting . . . They kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”