Daniel 5 · Verse 27

Daniel 5:27

TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Daniel 5:27, King James Version

Daniel 5:27 in other translations

BSBTEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.
WEBTEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.
ASVTEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
YLTWeighed--Thou art weighed in the balances, and hast been found lacking.
DARBYTEKEL, Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting;
BBETekel; you have been put in the scales and seen to be under weight.
WebsterTEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

What does Daniel 5:27 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
27. weighed in the balances--The Egyptians thought that Osiris weighed the actions of the dead in a literal balance. The Babylonians may have had the same notion, which would give a peculiar appropriateness to the image here used. found wanting--too light before God, the weigher of actions (1Sa 2:3; Psa 62:9). Like spurious gold or silver (Jr 6:30).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Daniel 5:18-31

Daniel reads Belshazzar's doom. He had not taken warning by the judgments upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he had insulted God. Sinners are pleased with gods that neither see, nor hear, nor know; but they will be judged by One to whom all things are open. Daniel reads the sentence written on the wall. All this may well be applied to the doom of every sinner. At death, the sinner's days are numbered and finished; after death…

Read the full comment on Daniel 5:18-31 →

Daniel 5:27 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

תְּקֵ֑לte.KelteqelH8625
תְּקִ֥ילְתָּהte.Ki.le.tahyou have been weighedH8625
בְמֹֽאזַנְיָ֖אve.mo.zan.Ya'in scales theH3977
וְהִשְׁתְּכַ֥חַתְּve.hish.te.Kha.chatand you have been foundH7912
חַסִּֽיר\׃cha.SirlackingH2627

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Daniel 5:27

  • Job 31:6

    Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

  • Psalms 62:9

    Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

  • 1 Corinthians 3:13

    Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

  • Ezekiel 22:18-20

    Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

  • Matthew 22:11-12

    And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

  • Jeremiah 6:30

    Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Thou.
Job 31:6; Ps 62:9; Jer 6:30; Eze 22:18-20
art.
Mt 22:11,12; 1Co 3:13

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Daniel 5:26

    This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

  • Daniel 5:27

    TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

  • Daniel 5:28

    PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Read all of Daniel 5

Daniel 5:27 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		TEKEL: Pesado has sido en balanza, y fuiste hallado falto.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Thekel: Tu as été pesé à la balance, et tu as été trouvé manquant de poids.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Tekel-du bist auf der Waage gewogen und zu leicht erfunden worden.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Thecel: appensus es in statera, et inventus es minus habens.