Discovery BoxDaniel 5:26-30 
Context5:26 This is the interpretation of the words: 1 As for mene 2 – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end. 5:27 As for teqel – you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking. 5:28 As for peres 3 – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
5:29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, 4 Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom. 5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, 5 was killed. 6
1 tn Or “word” or “event.” See HALOT 1915 s.v. מִלָּה.
2 tn The Aramaic term מְנֵא (mÿne’) is a noun referring to a measure of weight. The linkage here to the verb “to number” (Aram. מְנָה, mÿnah) is a case of paronomasia rather than strict etymology. So also with תְּקֵל (tÿqel) and פַרְסִין (farsin). In the latter case there is an obvious wordplay with the name “Persian.”
3 sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.
4 tn Aram “Belshazzar spoke.”
5 tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”
6 sn The year was 539
