MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN mē’ nĭ, mē’ nĭ, tek əl u fär sĭn (מְנֵ֥א מְנֵ֖א תְּקֵ֥ל וּפַרְסִֽין RSV. MENE MENE TEKEL and PARSIN mē’ nĭ mē’ nĭ tek əl and pär’ sĭn; LXX (5:1) μανή φαρες θεκελ; also Theodotion 5:28, Jos. Antiq. X. xi. 3). Inscription written on the wall of the palace of Belshazzar at Babylon (Dan 5:25-28).

I. The text. The handwriting prob. employed the local unvocalized Aram. in cursive script. It is, however, possible that ideographs in Neo-Babylonian cuneiform script were used. Some vocalize the initial word as menâ, “he has weighed” or “weigh out”; others argue that the second mene is dittography and a later addition to the text. However, the interpretation given in Daniel 5:27, 28, presupposes the MT (so Eissfeldt). Most revocalizations of the text and discussions, as that which considers the second mene has been added to bring a parallel with the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 and 7, are in effect questions of interpretation.

II. The reading. The fact that the king was disturbed as the hand wrote across the wall was almost certainly due to the unique manner and timing which would remind a Babylonian of the so-called šiṭir šame or “writing of heaven” which was an augury. That the leading scholars of Babylon failed to read and interpret was not due to its illegibility, or use of an unknown or esoteric script or language, since Daniel made an interpretation on the basis of Aram. The problem was one of both reading (vocalization) and interpretation and in both of these many variations were possible: a. “Mina, mina, shekel and half-shekels.” This series of weights was approximately equivalent to our “pound, pound, ounce, half-ounce” though at that time the mina weighed 1 lb. 1 oz. (= 60 shekels). This must have offered many speculative possibilities to the Babylonians versed in arithmetical, algebraic, and astronomical methods, esp. as numbers or words were sometimes used as symbols in certain types of omen texts. The peres is attested as a “half-shekel” both at Babylon and in the Alalah tablets from Syria in the 14th cent. b.c. Parsin could be pl. (or even a form of the dual) i.e. two half-shekels. The u- is the common copulative particle. b. “Counted, counted, weighed and assessed.” These words might be a popular proverbial saying involving wordplay on the above interpretation (a) or even a technical legal phrase denoting the completion of a contract and the final demand for fulfilling its terms.

III. Interpretation. Daniel’s successful interpretation accepted both readings and, by revocalization, added a third, menâ, “he numbered.” He had already stated his belief that it was the Most High God who gives kingship (v. 18) and removes it (v. 19). He alone rules in the kingdom of men as of heaven and sets over an earthly realm whom He will (v. 21). So he interpreted mn’ to include both the numbering of the days of a reign as of life (Ps 90:12) and thus the inevitable end of it. Təqal, “he weighed,” was taken by Daniel as Pi’el təquiltâ, “thou hast been weighed.” The verb commonly is used in Babylonian to denote what is owed, and must be paid, in a debt. Peres (here sing.) is equated with the Akkad. parāsu meaning to “divide” and thus “decide, pass judgment.” So he sees the kingdom as about to be divided up and given to the combined Medes (Madai) and Persians (Parsai). The latter is a word-play on parsin. Daniel’s interpretation followed common Jewish exegetical practice and won immediate acceptance as credible. The advance of the combined Medo-Persian army was already common knowledge since at least two weeks earlier they had breached the Babylonian defenses at Opis.

Daniel’s interpretation demands that the kingdom found wanting and to be superseded by the Medes and Persians was the Chaldaean Dynasty founded by Nabopolassar in 626 b.c. of which the last ruler was Nabonidus (“Nebuchadnezzar” of v. 22) and his son and coregent Belshazzar. A number of interpreters since Clermont-Gannean have therefore sought to equate each of the words in the writing “mina, mina, shekel and half-shekel” with kings of this dynasty. Various correspondences are suggested with Nabopolassar (626-605); Nebuchadrezzar II (605-562); Amel-Marduk (= Evil Merodach 562-560); Nergal-šaruṩur (= Neriglissar 560-556); Labashi-Marduk (556); Nabu-na’id (= Nabonidus, 556-539 b.c.). Thus the mina/mina/shekel/half-shekel(s) is interpreted by Clairmont-Ganneau as Nebuchadrezzar/-/Belshazzar/ Medes and Persians; by Kraeling as Evil-Merodach/ Neriglissar/Labashi-Marduk/Nabonidus and Belshazzar; by Freeman as Nebuchadrezzar/-/Evil-Merodach/Belshazzar. It would be equally possible to consider the two great rulers of the dynasty Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar II as the minas and Nabonidus as the shekel with Belshazzar who only had part of the royal powers as the “half-shekel.” The important aspect of the interpretation must remain Daniel’s insistence on the termination of the power of Babylon at the hands of the Medo-Persians.

Bibliography F. Clermont-Ganneau, “Mané, Thécel, Pharés,” Journale Asiatique (1886), 36-67; E. G. Kraeling, JBL LXIII (1944), 11-14; O. Eissfeldt, “Die Mene-Tekel Inschrift,” ZAW 63 (1951), 105; D. N. Freeman, “The Prayer of Nabonidus,” BASOR 145 (1957), 31, 32.