Daniel 5:26

New American Standard Bible (1995)

"This is the interpretation of the message: 'MENE'—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This is the interpretation of the message:

Hebrew Names Version
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end;

King James Version
This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene ; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

English Standard Version
This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene , God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

New American Standard Bible
"This is the interpretation of the message: 'MENE'—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.

New Century Version
"This is what the words mean: Mene: God has counted the days until your kingdom will end.

Amplified Bible
"This is the interpretation of the message: 'MENE'—God has numbered the days of your kingdom and put an end to it;

Geneva Bible (1587)
This is the interpretation of the thing, Mene, God hath nombred thy kingdome, and hath finished it.

Berean Standard Bible
And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Complete Jewish Bible
This is what it means: ‘M'ne!' — God has counted up your kingdom and brought it to an end.

Darby Translation
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it;

Easy-to-Read Version
"This is what these words mean: Mene: God has counted the days until your kingdom will end.

George Lamsa Translation
This is the interpretation of the words: MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end.

Good News Translation
And this is what it means: number, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

Lexham English Bible
"This is the explanation of the matter: ‘Mene'—God has numbered your kingdom and brought an end to it.

Literal Translation
This is the meaning of the thing: A MINA: God has numbered your kingdom and finished it.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now the interpretacion off the thynge is this: Mane, God hath nombred thy kyngdome, and brought it to an ende:

American Standard Version
This is the interpretation of the thing: mene ; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end.

Bible in Basic English
This is the sense of the words: Mene; your kingdom has been numbered by God and ended.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end.

King James Version (1611)
This is the interpretation of the thing, MENE, God hath numbred thy kingdome, and finished it.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Now the interpretation of the thing is this: MENE, God hath numbred thy kingdome, and brought it to an ende.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
This is the interpretation of the sentence: Mane; God has measured thy kingdom, and finished it.

English Revised Version
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end.

World English Bible
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And this is the interpretyng of the word. Mane, God hath noumbrid thi rewme, and hath fillid it;

Update Bible Version
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end;

Webster's Bible Translation
This [is] the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

New English Translation
This is the interpretation of the words: As for mene—God has numbered your kingdom's days and brought it to an end.

New King James Version
This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;

New Living Translation
This is what these words mean: Mene means ‘numbered'—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.

New Life Bible
And this is what it means: ‘MENE' means that God has numbered the days of your rule and has brought it to an end.

New Revised Standard
This is the interpretation of the matter: mene , God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
This, is the interpretation of the thing, - M'ne, God hath reckoned up thy reign, and ended it:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And this is the interpretation of the word. MANE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it.

Revised Standard Version
This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

Young's Literal Translation
This [is] the interpretation of the thing: Numbered -- God hath numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it.

Contextual Overview

¹⁰ The queen entered the banquet hall because of the words of the king and his nobles; the queen spoke and said, "O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale. ¹¹ "There is a man in your kingdom in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father, illumination, insight and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners. ¹² "This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation." ¹³ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴ "Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you. ¹⁵ "Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message. ¹⁶ "But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom." ¹⁷ Then Daniel answered and said before the king, "Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. ¹⁸ "O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. ¹⁹ "Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him; whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

God: Daniel 9:2, Job 14:14, Isaiah 13:1 - Isaiah 14:32, Isaiah 21:1-10, Isaiah 47:1-15, Jeremiah 25:11, Jeremiah 25:12, Jeremiah 27:7, Jeremiah 50:1 - Jeremiah 51:64, Acts 15:18

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 1:45 - This is Esther 6:13 - If Mordecai Job 14:5 - his days Psalms 37:13 - his day Proverbs 14:32 - driven Jeremiah 51:13 - thine Jeremiah 51:44 - I will bring Matthew 4:9 - I give

Gill's Notes on the Bible

This is the interpretation of the thing,.... Or, "word" z; for they might all seem as one word; or this is the sense of the whole:

MENE; as for this word, it signifies,

God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; God had fixed the number of years, how long that monarchy should last, which he was now at the head of, and which was foretold, Jeremiah 25:1, and also the number of years that he should reign over it; and both these numbers were now completed; for that very night Belshazzar was slain, and the kingdom translated to another people: and a dreadful thing it is to be numbered to the sword, famine, and pestilence, or any sore judgment of God for sin, as sometimes men are; so more especially to be appointed to everlasting wrath, and to be numbered among transgressors, among the devils and damned in hell.

z מלתא "sermonis", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "verborum", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Broughtonus "verbi", Cocceius; "illius verbi", Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This is the interpretation of the thing - It may seem not to have been difficult to interpret the meaning of the communication, when one was able to read the words, or when the sense of the words was understood. But, if the words are placed together, and considered in their abstract form, the whole communication would be so enigmatical that the interpretation would not be likely to occur to anyone without a Divine guidance. This will appear more clearly by arranging the words together, as has been done by Hales:

MENE, number,

MENE, number,

TEKEL, weight,

(PERES) (division)

UPHARSIN, division.

Or, as it is explained more accurately by Berholdt and Gesenius:

Mene, Numbered,

Mene, Numbered,

Tekel, Weighted,

Upharsin. Divided.

From this arrangement it will be at once seen that the interpretation proposed by Daniel was not one that would have been likely to have occurred to anyone.

Mene - מנא m^enê'. This word is a passive participle from מנה m^enâh - “to number, to review.” - Gesenius, “Lex.” The verb is also written מנא m^enâ' - Buxtorf, “Lex.” It would be literally translated “numbered,” and would apply to that of which an estimate was taken by counting. We use now an expression which would convey a similar idea, when we say of one that “his days are numbered;” that is, he has not long to live, or is about to die. The idea seems to be taken from the fact, that the duration of a man’s life cannot usually be known, and in the general uncertainty we can form no correct estimate of it, but when he is old, or when he is dangerously sick, we feel that we can with some degree of probability number his days, since he cannot now live long. Such is the idea here, as explained by Daniel. All uncertainty about the duration of the kingdom was now removed, for, since the evil had come, an exact estimate of its whole duration - of the number of the years of its continuance - could be made. In the Greek of Theodotion there is no attempt to translate this word, and it is retained in Greek letters - Μανὴ Manē. So also in the Codex Chisianus and in the Latin Vulgate.

God hath numbered thy kingdom - The word which is used here, and rendered “numbered” - מנה m^enâh - is the verb of which the previous word is the participle. Daniel applies it to the “kingdom” or “reign” of the monarch, as being a thing of more importance than the life of the king himself. It is evident, if, according to the common interpretation of Daniel 5:30, Belshazzar was slain that very night, it “might” have been applied to the king himself, meaning that his days were numbered, and that he was about to die. But this interpretation (see Notes) is not absolutely certain, and perhaps the fact that Daniel did not so apply the word may be properly regarded as one circumstance showing that such an interpretation is not necessary, though probably it is the correct one.

And finished it - This is not the meaning of the word “Mene,” but is the explanation by Daniel of the thing intended. The word in its interpretation fairly implied that; or that might be understood from it. The fact that the “kingdom” in its duration was “numbered,” properly expressed the idea that it was now to come to an end. It did actually then come to an end by being merged in that of the Medes and Persians.