Note on Daniel 5:28 (JST)

Dan 5:25-28 in the KJV reads:

And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

There is a slight change in the JST:

And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing; MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. UPHARSIN; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

In the JST, Dan 5:28 reads “Upharsin” instead of KJV “Peres.” Here is the relevant portion of OT manuscript 2, p. 116:

 

In the KJV, the terms “MENE,” “TEKEL,” and “PERES” (the latter not appearing in the original list in v. 25) but in the JST, as v. 28 interprets UPHARSIN instead of PERES, the JST has an interpretation of all the terms that appear in v. 25.

The reason for the difference is that PERES is the singular form while UPHARSIN is the plural (the 'u' representing the conjunction 'w,' but many scholarly translations keep the 'U' and render it UPHARSIN [e.g., 1985 JPS Tanakh; NASB]).

Interestingly, there are at least two modern translations of Daniel 5:28 that uses Upharsin, not Peres, similar to the JST:

New English Bible:

 

And these are the words of the writing which was inscribed: Mene mene tekel u-pharsin. Here is the interpretation: mene: God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; tekel: you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; upharsin: and your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

 

Revised English Bible:

 

‘The words inscribed were: “Mene mene tekel u-pharsin.” Their interpretation is this: mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; tekel, you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; u-pharsin, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.