# Daniel 5:26

> And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

— Daniel 5:26, 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

- Isaiah 47:1-15 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/isaiah/47/1
- Jeremiah 25:11-12 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/jeremiah/25/11
- Jeremiah 27:7 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/jeremiah/27/7

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

## This document

- Canonical: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/26
- Whole chapter: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5
- License: Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. Source: Scriptoria (scriptoria.digital).