Daniel 5:25
Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain
- WHEN
- 539 BC
WHEN
539 BC
counted from the text
The feast and the fall of the city on the same night.
WHO RULED
- Belshazzar king of Babylon 553-539 BC
- Cyrus the Great king of Persia 559-530 BC
MEANWHILE
-
539 BC Babylon
Cyrus takes Babylon without a battle
The city surrenders, and a year later comes the decree that allows the Jews to return.
SOURCES
- date — 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.
- Belshazzar — 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 — Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum), which records the policy of sending peoples and their cults back to their own lands; Herodotus I
- Cyrus takes Babylon without a battle — Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum); Nabonidus Chronicle
UPDATED