mene mene tekel upharsin appears in Daniel 5, along with its translation. Some translations spell upharsin as parsin. The phrase appeared on a wall in the palace of Belshazzar, the acting king of Babylon. He is referred to as the “son of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 5:18, 22), although he was not Nebuchadnezzar’s immediate successor (Jeremiah 52:31). The biblical account of the mysterious and frightening appearance of the phrase mene mene tekel upharsinhas given rise to the modern expression “the handwriting on the wall,” meaning “ warning of misfortune.”
Daniel 5 tells the story of the Babylonian ruler Belshazzar, a rich and debauched king, who gave a banquet to his court. During the drunken party, the sacred vessels from the Jewish temple, stolen by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, were used in a blasphemous manner. At the height of the festivities, a man’s hand was seen writing on the wall the mysterious words “mene mene tekel upharsin” (verse 25). The king was terrified. But no one could interpret what the words meant. All attempts at interpretation by Belshazzar’s wise men failed until the prophet Daniel was called in.
Daniel was one of the captives from Judah brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was given wisdom from God to read and translate the words, which meant “numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.” Daniel told the king, “Here is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
