Daniel 5:28

28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to ¹the Medes and ²Persians."^[a]

Daniel 5:28 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 5:28

PERES
The singular of "Pharsin", ( Daniel 5:25 ) . The sense of this word is, thy kingdom is divided:
which, though it consisted of various provinces, united under Belshazzar, now should be broken and separated from him: and given to the Medes and Persians;
to Darius the Mede, and to Cyrus the Persian, who was a partner for a while with his uncle Darius in the government of the empire: there is an elegant play on words in the words "Peres" and "Persians"; and a grievous thing it is to sinners, not only to have body and soul divided at death, but to be divided and separated from God to all eternity; and to hear that sentence, "depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels".

Daniel 5:28 In-Context

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

27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;

28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 31; [Daniel 9:1; Isaiah 13:17; Isaiah 21:2; Jeremiah 51:28]
• 2. See Daniel 6:28

Footnotes

• [a]. Peres (the singular of Parsin) sounds like the Aramaic for divided and for Persia