Bible Strands
Daniel 5:26
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Daniel speaks to King Belshazzar during the royal feast, delivering the divine explanation of the handwriting inscribed on the palace wall.
The words — The Aramaic מְנָֽה (me.nah) literally means “he has numbered,” directly modifying אֱלָהָ֥/א ('e.la.Ha) for “God,” which identifies the agent of the decree.
The thread — The termination of Babylon’s reign aligns with Isaiah 47:1, Jeremiah 25:11, and Jeremiah 27:7, which trace the same pattern of God’s sovereign appointment and expiration of imperial power.
Why it lands — The verse states that God actively counts and concludes the days of a ruler’s authority, requiring the reader to acknowledge that human sovereignty is measured and subject to divine termination.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 47:1 “Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
- Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
- Jeremiah 27:7 All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.
- Job 14:14 When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.
- Isaiah 13:1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
- Isaiah 21:1 This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
- Jeremiah 50:1 This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:
- Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
- Acts 15:18 that have been known for ages.’