Daniel 5:25-28
Easy-to-Read Version
25 These are the words that were written on the wall:
mene, mene, tekel, uparsin.
26 “This is what these words mean:
Mene[a]:
God has counted the days until your kingdom will end.
27 Tekel[b]:
You have been weighed on the scales and found not good enough.
28 Uparsin[c]:
Your kingdom is being taken from you.
It will be divided among the Medes and Persians.”
Footnotes
- Daniel 5:26 Mene A weight, like the Hebrew word “mina.” This is like the word “to count.”
- Daniel 5:27 Tekel A weight, like the Hebrew word “shekel.” This word is like the word meaning “to weigh.”
- Daniel 5:28 Uparsin Literally, “ peres,” a weight. This word is like the word meaning “to divide” or “to split.” It is also like the name of the country of Persia.
Daniel 5:25-28
Amplified Bible
25 “This is the [a]inscription that was written, ‘mene, mene, tekel, upharsin [numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided].’ 26 This is the interpretation of the message: ‘mene’—God has numbered the days of your kingdom and put an end to it; 27 ‘tekel’—you have been weighed on the scales [of righteousness] and found deficient; 28 ‘[b]peres’—[c]your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and [d]Persians.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Daniel 5:25 These words are ordinary Aramaic from that time, so some commentators have speculated that the wise men recognized them but just could not put them into orderly sentences. Yet here Daniel seems to clearly “read” the words simply by pronouncing them in Aramaic (cf note v 8). His interpretation (vv 26-28) goes far beyond what the simple words mean by themselves.
- Daniel 5:28 The singular of upharsin (see v 25).
- Daniel 5:28 Foretold in Is 21:2, 5, 9.
- Daniel 5:28 Aram Paras.
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