Daniel’s Integrity and His Entrapment by His Enemies

6 ⌊It pleased Darius⌋,a and he set up one hundred and twenty satraps over the kingdom, that they were ⌊throughout the whole kingdom⌋,b 2 and over them were three administrators, of whom Daniel was one, so that these satraps were giving account to them, and the king would not be suffering loss. 3 Then Daniel ⌊began distinguishing himself⌋c above the administrators and the satraps ⌊because⌋d an exceptional spirit was in him, and so the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom. 4 Then the other administrators and satraps ⌊began to seek⌋e to find a pretext against Daniel ⌊in connection with the kingdom⌋,f but they were not able to find any pretext and ⌊corruption⌋g ⌊because⌋h he was trustworthy, and noi negligence or ⌊corruption⌋j ⌊could be found in him⌋.k 5 Then these men ⌊said⌋,l “We will not find any pretextm against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”

6 So the administrators and the satraps conspired ⌊with respect to⌋n the king and so they said to him, “Darius, O king, live ⌊forever⌋!o 7 All of the administrators of the kingdom, and the prefects, the satraps, the counselors and the governors took counsel and have agreed to establish an edict of the king and to enforce a decree that ⌊whoever⌋p will seek a prayer from any god or human except from you for up to thirty days will be thrown into ⌊the lion pit⌋.q