Daniel 5:28
in Daniel 5PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
KJV
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
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This verse in Daniel 5
Commentary
8 notes on this verseVerses 25-28. "This is the inscription which has been set up: MANE, THECEL, PHARES. And this is the interpretation of the sentence: 'MANE' means that God has numbered thy kingdom and brought it to an end. 'THECEL' means it has been weighed in the scales and has been found deficient (Vulg.: thou hast been weighed and hast been found...). 'PHARES' means that thy kingdom has been removed and given to the Medes and Persians."
This site's exposition
God hath numbered thy kingdom
on Daniel 5:26-28
Daniel unpacks each word as a sentence on the kingdom itself: MENE, God has numbered Belshazzar's kingdom and finished it; TEKEL, he is weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES, his kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Clarke reads the wordplay in the Aramaic root shared by peres and Persia as deliberate, the very name of the coming conqueror hidden inside the verdict word for division, so that the sentence names its own executor. The three words move from accounting to judgment to political consequence in a single breath, the fullest verdict any king receives in the book.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And after saying these things he added the following, at once rebuking the king and not receiving his face so that having heard this the king would be afraid and so that he who committed trespasses might immediately recognize them. And so it says, "And you his son, Belshazzar, you have not humbled your heart before God; do you not know all these things? And you have been exalted against the Lord God of heaven and have brought the vessels of his house before you and you and your magistrates and your mistresses and your concubines drank wine from them, and you have praised golden and silver and bronze and iron and wooden and stone gods, which do not see and which do not hear and which do not understand, and God, of whom your breath is in his hand and all your ways are as well, you have not glorified him. On account of this the fingers of a hand have been sent from his face and he ordered this writing: 'Mane, Thekel, Fares.' This is the interpretation of the phrase: 'Mane,' God has measured your kingdom and ended it, 'Thekel,' it has been weighed in the balance and been found wanting, 'Fares,' your kingdom is divided and has been given to the Medes and Persians." [Daniel 5:22-28]
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): " Thy kingdom is divided, is rent from thee, and given to the Medes and Persians, as a prey to be divided among them." Now this may, without any force, be applied to the doom of sinners. Mene, Tekel, Peres, may easily be made to signify death, judgment, and hell.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
PERES - Separated, divided, broken. Phars signifies two things, broken off, and Persian; noting that, first, this kingdom was broken down from Belshazzar. Secondly, that it was given to the Persians.
PERES,.... The singular of "Pharsin", Dan 5:
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Peres - In Dan 5:25 this is “Upharsin.” These are but different forms of the same word - the word in Dan 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.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Peres--the explanation of "dividers" (Da 5:25), the active participle plural there being used for the passive participle singular, "dividers" for "divided." The word "Peres" alludes to the similar word "Persia." divided--namely, among the Medes and Persians [MAURER]; or, "severed" from thee [GROTIUS].
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פְּרֵ֑ס | peres | peres | H6537 → | 3 times |
| פְּרִיסַת֙ | perisat | it has been broken in two | H6537 → | 3 times |
| מַלְכוּתָ֔ךְ | malkhutakh | kingdom your | H4437 → | 57 times |
| וִיהִיבַ֖ת | vihivat | and it has been given | H3052 → | 28 times |
| לְמָדַ֥י | lemadai | to Medes | H4076 → | 5 times |
| וּפָרָֽס׃ | ufaras | and Persians | H6540 → | 6 times |
פְּרֵ֑סperes
peresH6537 →3 times
פְּרִיסַת֙it has been broken in two
perisatH6537 →3 times
מַלְכוּתָ֔ךְkingdom your
malkhutakhH4437 →57 times
וִיהִיבַ֖תand it has been given
vihivatH3052 →28 times
לְמָדַ֥יto Medes
lemadaiH4076 →5 times
וּפָרָֽס׃and Persians
ufarasH6540 →6 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 13:17Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
it leads to
- Daniel 5:28–31
PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
- Jeremiah 51:11
Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of…
- Isaiah 41:25
I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who…
- Jeremiah 51:27–28
“Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses…
- Jeremiah 50:9
For behold, I stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north. They will line up against her; from the north she will be captured. Their…
- Daniel 5:28–31
Through
Daniel 5:31and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
it leads to
- Daniel 9:1
In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—
- Daniel 6:1
Now it pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,
- Daniel 9:1
Through
Isaiah 21:2A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 33:1
Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
- Isaiah 33:1
Where this verse is studied
About Daniel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 3.17.5-6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FIVE; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.