Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Daniel 5:26 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 26. 26This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Daniel 5:26 contributes this concrete line to the movement: “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”.
Read It With
- Daniel 5:25–28
Read Daniel 5:26 with 5:25–28. Daniel 5:26 advances “The Inscription Announces Numbering, Weighing, and Division” with the textual step “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”. The complete unit establishes this movement: Daniel reads the three terms as judgment: the reign is numbered, the king weighed and lacking, and the kingdom divided to Medes and Persians.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This boundary keeps “The Inscription Announces Numbering, Weighing, and Division” together inside the larger chapter movement and prevents the next scene or disclosure from being flattened into it. At Daniel 5:26, the wording “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.” supplies this verse's distinct step.
Follow the Context
- Read the opening words of Daniel 5:25-28 as the entry into “The Inscription Announces Numbering, Weighing, and Division.”
- Daniel reads the three terms as judgment: the reign is numbered, the king weighed and lacking, and the kingdom divided to Medes and Persians.
- Let verse 28 complete this movement before moving to 5:29-31.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The words do not authorize divination from random letters, numbers, coins, or wall marks.
What Remains True
Power and prestige remain subject to moral evaluation, and wealth cannot purchase exemption from an ending. Daniel 5:26 contributes the concrete textual step “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”.
How It Can Shape Life
- Use measurable standards to evaluate leaders while distinguishing failed conduct from a person's intrinsic dignity. Keep Daniel 5:26 inside 5:25–28 and do not convert its wording into an unsupported modern identification.
Teach It Back
Explain Daniel 5:26's role in 5:25–28. Name the ancient setting, quote or paraphrase “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.”, state one material uncertainty, and name one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Daniel 5:25-28 — The Inscription Announces Numbering, Weighing, and DivisionSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Daniel 5:26 must be read with this unit-level uncertainty: Interpreters dispute the exact written form, whether the specialists could read but not interpret it, the weight sequence, and how early the Persian wordplay arose. The given interpretation controls the story.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Daniel 5:25-28, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew aramaic text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Daniel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 5:25-28; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Daniel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1653–1655, translation and translator notes on 5:25-28
Open source ↗