Daniel 5:26

5:26 This is the interpretation of the words: ¹  As for mene ²  – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end.

Daniel 5:30

5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ³  was killed. ⁴ 

¹ tn Or “word” or “event.” See HALOT 1915 s.v. מִלָּה.

² tn The Aramaic term מְנֵא (mÿne’) is a noun referring to a measure of weight. The linkage here to the verb “to number” (Aram. מְנָה, mÿnah) is a case of paronomasia rather than strict etymology. So also with תְּקֵל (tÿqel) and פַרְסִין (farsin). In the latter case there is an obvious wordplay with the name “Persian.”

³ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

⁴ sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.