Daniel 5.25-31

type: passage created: 2026-05-06 updated: 2026-05-06 book: Daniel chapter: 5 verses: "25-31" translation_default: ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT tags: [scripture] citation_count: 2 enriched: false

Quoted in

Nebuchadrezzar

Daniel 5.25-31

Book: Daniel · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"23. but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine from them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified. 24. Then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed."

"25. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end; 27. TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28. PERES; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain. 31. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old." (Daniel 5:23-31, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"23. but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified. 24. Then was the part of the hand sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed."

"25. This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end; 27. TEKEL; you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. 28. PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30. In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain. 31. Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old." (Daniel 5:23-31, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"23. But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: 24. Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written."

"25. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. ^{being: Cald. he as the son of, etc} ^{about: or, now}" (Daniel 5:23-31, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"23. and against the Lord of the heavens thou hast lifted up thyself; and the vessels of His house they have brought in before thee, and thou, and thy great men, thy wives, and thy concubines, are drinking wine with them, and gods of silver, and of gold, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone, that are not seeing, nor hearing, nor knowing, thou hast praised: and the God in whose hand [is] thy breath, and all thy ways, Him thou hast not honoured. 24. 'Then from before Him sent is the extremity of the hand, and the writing is noted down;"

"25. and this [is] the writing that is noted down: Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, and Divided. 26. This [is] the interpretation of the thing: Numbered, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it. 27. Weighed, Thou art weighed in the balances, and hast been found lacking. 28. Divided, Divided is thy kingdom, and it hath been given to the Medes and Persians.' 29. Then hath Belshazzar said, and they have clothed Daniel with purple, and a bracelet of gold [is] on his neck, and they have proclaimed concerning him that he is the third ruler in the kingdom. 30. In that night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans is slain, 31. and Darius the Mede hath received the kingdom, when a son of sixty and two years." (Daniel 5:23-31, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Daniel (1st-person visions) + narrator (court narratives)
Audience: exiles in Babylon + future generations of God's people
Location: Babylonian + Persian courts
Time period: events c. 605-535 BC; composed c. 530 BC (traditional) or 165 BC (Maccabean-dating school)

Theological reading

Key words

No Strong's-tagged lexicon matches found in this passage. (Lexicon coverage is curated, ~159 of the most apologetically-loaded Greek/Hebrew terms.)

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.