Daniel 6:7–23

⁷All 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 8}Now, O king, establish the edict and you must sign the document so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked.”

⁹So^r the king, Darius, signed the writing and the interdict.^{s 10}Now when^t Daniel realized that the document was signed, he went to his house (now he had windows in his upper room that were open^u toward Jerusalem), and three times daily^v he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave praise before his God, just as^w he had been doing previously.^{x 11}Then these men came as a group and they found Daniel praying and pleading for mercy before his God. ¹²Then they approached and spoke with the king^y concerning the edict of the king, “Did you not sign an edict^z that any person who would seek anything from any God or human within thirty days except from you, O king, would be thrown into the lion pit?”^a The king answered and said, “The matter as you have just stated is certain according to the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked.”

God’s Miraculous Deliverance of Daniel Again

¹³Then they responded^b and said before the king, “Daniel, who is from the exiles^c of Judah,^d is not paying any attention^e to you, O king, or to the decree that you have signed, and three times daily^f he says his prayer.” ¹⁴Then the king, when^g he heard that report,^h he was extremely distressed over it; and concerning Danielⁱ he was determined^j to rescue him. And until the setting of the sun he was making every effort to deliver him. ¹⁵Then these men came as a group to the king and said,^k “Recall, O king, that with respect to the law of^l the Medes and Persians that any^m decree or edict that the king establishes cannot be changed.”

¹⁶Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought in and they threw him into the lion pit.ⁿ The king said^o to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve faithfully,^p may he rescue you!” ¹⁷And a^q stone was brought and it was put on the entrance of the pit, and the king sealed it with his signet ring and with the signet rings of his lords,^r so that nothing would be changed concerning Daniel. ¹⁸Then the king went to his palace and spent the night in fasting, and no food was brought in before him and his sleep fled from him.

¹⁹Then the king got up at daybreak, at first light, and he went in haste^s to the lion pit.^{t 20}And when he came near^u to the pit, he cried out to Daniel with a distressed voice, and the king spoke^v and said to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God whom you serve faithfully, was he able to rescue you from the lions?” ²¹Then Daniel spoke to^w the king, “O king, live forever!^{x 22}My God sent his angel and he shut the mouth of the lions and they did not^y hurt me, because^z before him I was found^a blameless, and also before you, O king, I have not done any wrong.”

²³Then the king was exceedingly glad over it^b and commanded that Daniel be lifted up from the pit; and there was not any wound found on him, because he had trusted in his God.