Daniel 5:28

THE MESSAGE

"Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians."

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.'

Contextual Overview

¹⁰The queen heard of the hysteria among the king and his nobles and came to the banquet hall. She said, "Long live the king! Don't be upset. Don't sit around looking like ghosts. There is a man in your kingdom who is full of the divine Holy Spirit. During your father's time he was well known for his intellectual brilliance and spiritual wisdom. He was so good that your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, made him the head of all the magicians, enchanters, fortunetellers, and diviners. There was no one quite like him. He could do anything—interpret dreams, solve mysteries, explain puzzles. His name is Daniel, but he was renamed Belteshazzar by the king. Have Daniel called in. He'll tell you what is going on here." ¹³So Daniel was called in. The king asked him, "Are you the Daniel who was one of the Jewish exiles my father brought here from Judah? I've heard about you—that you're full of the Holy Spirit, that you've got a brilliant mind, that you are incredibly wise. The wise men and enchanters were brought in here to read this writing on the wall and interpret it for me. They couldn't figure it out—not a word, not a syllable. But I've heard that you interpret dreams and solve mysteries. So—if you can read the writing and interpret it for me, you'll be rich and famous—a purple robe, the great gold chain around your neck—and third-in-command in the kingdom." ¹⁷ Daniel answered the king, "You can keep your gifts, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means. ¹⁸"Listen, O king! The High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a great kingdom and a glorious reputation. Because God made him so famous, people from everywhere, whatever their race, color, and creed, were totally intimidated by him. He killed or spared people on whim. He promoted or humiliated people capriciously. He developed a big head and a hard spirit. Then God knocked him off his high horse and stripped him of his fame. He was thrown out of human company, lost his mind, and lived like a wild animal. He ate grass like an ox and was soaked by heaven's dew until he learned his lesson: that the High God rules human kingdoms and puts anyone he wants in charge. ²²"You are his son and have known all this, yet you're as arrogant as he ever was. Look at you, setting yourself up in competition against the Master of heaven! You had the sacred chalices from his Temple brought into your drunken party so that you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, could drink from them. You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand. ²⁴"God sent the hand that wrote on the wall, and this is what is written: mene , teqel , and peres . This is what the words mean: "Mene: God has numbered the days of your rule and they don't add up. ²⁷ "Teqel: You have been weighed on the scales and you don't weigh much. ²⁸ "Peres: Your kingdom has been divided up and handed over to the Medes and Persians." ²⁹ Belshazzar did what he had promised. He robed Daniel in purple, draped the great gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to third-in-charge in the kingdom.

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 p^eras) 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.