TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Parallel translations
- WEB TEKEL; you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.
- BSB TEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.
- ESV TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;
- NKJV TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting;
- NASB ‘Tekēl’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.
- NLT Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
TEKEL means the king has been weighed in the balances and found wanting. God's just assessment finds Belshazzar deficient.
Overview
Daniel interprets the second word as a weighing of the king's character against God's standard, where he falls short. The image of the scales conveys God's righteous and exact judgment of every person. It is a sobering reminder that all are measured by the Lord, and apart from grace, all are found lacking.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 31:6Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.
- 1 Cor 3:13Every 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.
- Ps 62:9Surely 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.
- Jer 6:30Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.
- Ezek 22:18–20Son 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.
- Matt 22:11–12And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 5:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.