Daniel 5:28

28 [divisions, ]your kingdom is divided up and given to the Medes and Persians."

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 And this is what it means: [number, ]God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;

27 [weight, ]you have been weighed on the scales and found to be too light;

28 [divisions, ]your kingdom is divided up and given to the Medes and Persians."

29 Immediately Belshazzar ordered his servants to dress Daniel in a robe of royal purple and to hang a gold chain of honor around his neck. And he made him the third in power in the kingdom.

30 That same night Belshazzar, the king of Babylonia, was killed;

Footnotes

• [a] persians: [In Aramaic the word for "Persians" sounds like the word for "division."]