Bible Strands
Daniel 5:28
PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Daniel pronounces judgment to King Belshazzar during the royal feast when a disembodied hand writes on the wall. The declaration announces the immediate termination of Babylonian rule and its transfer to foreign powers.
The words — The term פְּרֵ֑ס (pe.Res) carries the literal sense "peres" or "broken in two," directly linked to מַלְכוּתָ֔/ךְ (mal.khu.Ta/kh) "your kingdom" and וִ/יהִיבַ֖ת (vi./hi.Vat) "it has been given." This etymology names the Medes and Persians who will receive the realm.
The thread — The transfer of power to the Medes aligns with the prophecy in Isaiah 13:17 and reaches historical fulfillment under Darius and Cyrus the Persian as recorded in Daniel 6:28. The theme of divine overthrow also parallels the "destroyer" vision in Isaiah 21:2.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that earthly authority is subject to divine measurement and can be revoked at will. It requires the reader to recognize that political power is temporary and ultimately redistributed by God's judgment.
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
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 13:17 Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.
- Daniel 6:28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
- Isaiah 21:2 A 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.”
- Daniel 5:31 and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
- Isaiah 45:1 This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:
- Daniel 8:20 The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia.
- 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 8:3 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later.