# Daniel 5:16

> But I have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Therefore, if you can read this inscription and give me its interpretation, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

— Daniel 5:16, Berean Standard Bible

## When

- 539 BC (counted from the text)
- Date source: Daniel 5 tells of the night, not the year. The Cyrus Cylinder and the Nabonidus Chronicle date the fall of Babylon to October 539 BC.

## Who ruled

- **Belshazzar**, king of Babylon, 553-539 BC · Source: The Nabonidus Chronicle and the tablets that name Belshazzar as son and co-regent. The co-regency explains why, in Daniel 5:7 and 5:29, the reward is *third* place in the kingdom and not second.
- **Cyrus the Great**, king of Persia, 559-530 BC · Source: Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum), which records the policy of sending peoples and their cults back to their own lands; Herodotus I

## See also

- Daniel 5:7 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/7
- Genesis 40:8 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/genesis/40/8
- Daniel 5:29 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/29

Cross-references: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0.

## This document

- Canonical: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/16
- Whole chapter: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5
- License: Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. Source: Scriptoria (scriptoria.digital).