Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Daniel 5:28

Divided—Your kingdom is divided, and it has been given to the Medes and Persians."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Babylon;   Belshazzar;   Government;   Heathen;   Medes;   Persia;   Symbols and Similitudes;   Upharsin;   Wicked (People);   Thompson Chain Reference - Abasement;   Exaltation-Abasement;   The Topic Concordance - Glory;   Government;   Pride/arrogance;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Medo-Persian Kingdom;   Walls;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Babylon;   Mene;   Upharsin;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Government;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Peres;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Cyrus;   Ezra, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Belshazzar;   Daniel, Book of;   Medes, Media;   Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Baltasar;   Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Belshazzar ;   Medes, Media ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Belshazzar;   Medes;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Belshazzar;   Daniel;   Medes;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Dan'iel;   Medes, Me'dia;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Belshazzar;   Cyrus;   Division of the Earth;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Medes;   Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin;   Persians;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Darius I;   Media;   Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
‘Peres’ means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Hebrew Names Version
PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Madai and Paras.
King James Version
Peres ; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
English Standard Version
Peres , your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
New American Standard Bible
"'PERES'—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
New Century Version
Parsin: Your kingdom is being divided and will be given to the Medes and the Persians."
Amplified Bible
'PERES'—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Peres, thy kingdome is deuided, and giuen to the Medes and Persians.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
" 'PERES'—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians."
Berean Standard Bible
PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians."
Complete Jewish Bible
‘P'res' — your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
Darby Translation
PERES, Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Easy-to-Read Version
Uparsin: Your kingdom is being taken from you. It will be divided among the Medes and Persians."
George Lamsa Translation
PERES, Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
Good News Translation
divisions, your kingdom is divided up and given to the Medes and Persians."
Lexham English Bible
"‘Peres'—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.'"
Literal Translation
HALF MINAS: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Phares, Thy kyngdome is delt in partes, and geuen to the Medes and Perses.
American Standard Version
peres ; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Bible in Basic English
Peres; your kingdom has been cut up and given to the Medes and Persians.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
PERES, thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.'
King James Version (1611)
PERES, thy kingdome is diuided, and giuen to the Medes and Persians.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
PHERES, thy kingdome is deuided, and geuen to the Medes, and Perses.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Phares; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
English Revised Version
PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
World English Bible
PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Phares, thi rewme is departid, and is youun to Medeis and Perseis.
Update Bible Version
PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Webster's Bible Translation
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
New English Translation
As for peres—your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians."
New King James Version
Peres: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." [fn]
New Living Translation
Parsin means ‘divided'—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
New Life Bible
‘PERES' means that your nation has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
New Revised Standard
peres , your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
P'res, - snatched away is thy kingdom, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Douay-Rheims Bible
PHARES: thy kingdom is divided, and is given to the Medes and Persians.
Revised Standard Version
PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."
Young's Literal Translation
Divided -- Divided is thy kingdom, and it hath been given to the Medes and Persians.'
THE MESSAGE
"Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians."

Contextual Overview

10The queen, on account of the words of the king and his great men, has come up to the banquet-house. The queen has answered and said, "O king, live for all ages; do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor your countenance be changed: 11there is a man in your kingdom in whom [is] the spirit of the holy gods: and in the days of your father, light, and understanding, and wisdom—as the wisdom of the gods—was found in him; and your father King Nebuchadnezzar, chief of the scribes, enchanters, Chaldeans, soothsayers, established him—your father, O king— 12because that an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of enigmas, and loosing of knots was found in him, in Daniel, whose name the king made Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and the interpretation he shows." 13Then Daniel has been caused to come up before the king; the king has answered and said to Daniel, "You are that Daniel who [is] of the sons of the expulsion of Judah, whom my father the king brought in out of Judah? 14And I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods [is] in you, and light, and understanding, and excellent wisdom have been found in you. 15And now, caused to come up before me have been the wise men, the enchanters, that they may read this writing, and its interpretation to cause me to know: and they are not able to show the interpretation of the thing: 16and I have heard of you, that you are able to give interpretations, and to loose knots: now, behold—you are able to read the writing, and its interpretation to cause me to know—purple you put on, and a bracelet of gold [is] on your neck, and you rule third in the kingdom." 17Then Daniel has answered and said before the king, "Your gifts be to yourself, and give your fee to another; nevertheless, the writing I read to the king, and the interpretation I cause him to know; 18you, O king, God Most High, a kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and honor, gave to your father Nebuchadnezzar: 19and because of the greatness that He gave to him, all peoples, nations, and languages were trembling and fearing before him: whom he willed he was slaying, and whom he willed he was keeping alive, and whom he willed he was raising up, and whom he willed he was making low;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

PERES: Peres,"he was divided," pronounced paras, denoted Persians, who seem evidently referred to.

Thy: Daniel 5:31, Daniel 6:28, Daniel 8:3, Daniel 8:4, Daniel 8:20, Daniel 9:1, Isaiah 13:17, Isaiah 21:2, Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:2

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 17:6 - the Medes Esther 1:3 - of Persia Job 34:24 - set Jeremiah 25:13 - hath Jeremiah 25:14 - many Jeremiah 25:25 - Medes Jeremiah 51:28 - the kings Ezekiel 27:10 - Persia Daniel 2:9 - the time Daniel 2:39 - another kingdom Daniel 4:31 - The kingdom Daniel 7:5 - itself on one side Luke 12:20 - then

Gill's Notes on the Bible

PERES,.... The singular of "Pharsin", Daniel 5:25. The sense of this word is,

thy kingdom is divided: which, though it consisted of various provinces, united under Belshazzar, now should be broken and separated from him:

and given to the Medes and Persians; to Darius the Mede, and to Cyrus the Persian, who was a partner for a while with his uncle Darius in the government of the empire: there is an elegant play on words in the words "Peres" and "Persians"; and a grievous thing it is to sinners, not only to have body and soul divided at death, but to be divided and separated from God to all eternity; and to hear that sentence, "depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Peres - In Daniel 5:25 this is “Upharsin.” These are but different forms of the same word - the word in Daniel 5:25 being in the plural, and here in the singular. The verb (פרס peras) means, to “divide;” and in this form, as in the previous cases, it is, according to Gesenius, participle meaning “divided.” As it stands here, it would be applicable to anything that was “divided” or “sundered” - whether a kingdom, a palace, a house, territory, etc. “What” was divided could be known only by Divine revelation. If the “word” had been understood by Belshazzar, undoubtedly it would have suggested the idea that there was to be some sort of division or sundering, but what that was to be would not be indicated by the mere use of the word. Perhaps to an affrighted imagination there might have been conveyed the idea that there would be a revolt in some of the provinces of the empire, and that a part would be rent away, but it would not have occurred that it would be so rent that the whole would pass under the dominion of a foreign power. Josephus (“Ant.” b. x. ch. xi. Section 3) says, that the word “Phares in the Greek tongue means a “fragment,” κλασμα klasma - God will, therefore, break thy kingdom in pieces, and divide it among the Medes and Persians.”

Thy kingdom is divided - That is, the proper interpretation of this communication is, that the kingdom is about to be rent asunder, or broken into fragments. It is to be separated or torn from the dynasty that has ruled over it, and to be given to another.

And given to the Medes and Persians - On this united kingdom, see the notes at Isaiah 13:17. It was “given” to the Medes and Persians when it was taken by Cyrus, and when the kingdom of Babylon became extinct, and thenceforward became a part of the Medo-Persian empire. See the notes at Isaiah 13:17, Isaiah 13:19.


 
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