Daniel Chapter 5 Verses 25-28

25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel next translates (perhaps) and interprets the four words (three different words) on the wall.

Even if the king could have read the words they would have been hard to understand. Literally they mean “Number, Number, Weight, Division.” The meaning is hardly clear. Daniel will need to tell the king what they mean.

The first word ‘MENE’ (mene) was repeated twice.

This word means numbered, counted out, or measured.

It meant that the years of Belshazzar’s reign had been counted out to their very last one.

Both his days and the days of his kingdom were numbered – that is, they were both coming to a swift end.

The second distinct word was ‘TEKEL’ (tekel).

This word meant ‘weighed’ and Daniel explained that Belshazzar had been weighed and found wanting.

He did not measure up.

The third distinct word was ‘PARSIN.’

(The ‘U’ in ‘UPHARSIN’ in the King James Version means ‘and.’ Thus, the final word on the wall was ‘PARSIN.’)

The word means ‘to divide’ and Daniel says that Belshazzar’s kingdom had been divided or separated from him and given instead to the Medes and the Persians who were at that time besieging the city.

The ‘divided’ or ‘shared’ or ‘fragmented’ may also refer to the sharing of power by the Medes and Persians. This would further discredit the liberal contention that Daniel thought a separate Median kingdom ruled before the Persians.

There is a double word play at work with this word.

This word also points to the word ‘Persian,’ which means that Daniel knew that the kingdom that defeated the Chaldeans was the Persians operating with the Medes – and not the Medes all by themselves as the liberals suggest.

These three words can also be translated to mean three different measures of weights.

This may also explain why the king’s advisors were unable to tell the king what the words referred to.

Liberals have latched onto this and have suggested that instead of being written by God, the words were really written by a waiter at the feast who was trying to remember how much food to serve. (This would be funny if it were not so sad…)

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