Daniel 5:31–6:28

³¹¹So ^aDarius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

CHAPTER 6

Darius’ Officials Seek to Accuse Daniel

¹¹It seemed good to Darius that he set 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom,

²and over them three commissioners (of whom ^aDaniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer ^bloss.

³Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself ¹among the commissioners and satraps because an ^aextraordinary spirit was in him, and the king planned to set him over the ^bentire kingdom.

⁴Then the commissioners and satraps began ^aseeking to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to matters of the kingdom; but they were not able to find ^bany ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.

⁵Then these men said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the ^alaw of his God.”

⁶Then these commissioners and satraps came ¹by agreement to the king and said thus to him: “King Darius, ^alive forever!

⁷“All the ^acommissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have ^bcounseled together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who seeks to make a petition ¹to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall ^cbe cast into the lions’ ²den.

⁸“Now, O king, ^aestablish the injunction and ¹sign the written document so that it may not be changed, according to the ^blaw of the Medes and Persians, which ²may not be revoked.”

⁹Therefore King Darius ^asigned the written document, that is, the injunction.

¹⁰Now when Daniel knew that the written document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open ^atoward Jerusalem); and he continued ^bkneeling on his knees three times a day, ^cpraying and ^dgiving thanks before his God, ¹as he had been doing previously.

¹¹Then these men came ^1aby agreement and found Daniel seeking to make a petition and making supplication before his God.

¹²Then they came near and ^asaid before the king concerning the king’s injunction, “Did you not sign an injunction that any man who seeks to make a petition ¹to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions’ den?” The king answered and said, “The word is certain, according to the ^blaw of the Medes and Persians, which ²may not be revoked.”

¹³Then they answered and said before the king, “^aDaniel, who is one of the ¹exiles from Judah, pays ^bno attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps seeking to make his petition three times a day.”

¹⁴Then, as soon as the king heard this word, he was greatly ^adistressed within himself and set his mind on saving Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to deliver him.

¹⁵Then these men came ¹by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a ^alaw of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

¹⁶Then the king said the word, and Daniel was brought in and ^acast into the lions’ den. The king answered and said to Daniel, “^1bYour God whom you constantly serve will Himself save you.”

¹⁷And a ^astone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel.

¹⁸Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night ^afasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his ^bsleep fled from him.

¹⁹Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and hurriedly went to the lions’ den.

²⁰When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king answered and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has ^ayour God, whom you constantly serve, been ^bable to save you from the lions?”

²¹Then Daniel spoke ¹to the king, “^aO king, live forever!

²²“My God ^asent His angel and ^bshut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as ¹I was found innocent before Him; and also ²toward you, O king, I have done no harm.”

²³Then the king was greatly pleased and said for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and ^ano harm whatsoever was found on him because he had ^bbelieved in his God.

²⁴The king then said the word, and they brought those men who had ¹brought charges against Daniel, and they ^acast them, their ^bchildren, and their wives into the lions’ den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

²⁵Then Darius the king wrote to all the ^apeoples, nations, and men of every tongue who were inhabiting all the land: “^bMay your ¹peace abound!

²⁶“¹I ^amake a decree that in all the ²dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and be in dread before the God of Daniel;

For He is the ^bliving God and ^cenduring forever,

And ^dHis kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,

And His ³dominion will be unto the end.

²⁷“He saves and delivers and does ^asigns and wonders

In heaven and on earth,

Who has also saved Daniel from the ¹power of the lions.”

²⁸So this ^aDaniel enjoyed success in the kingdom of Darius and in the kingdom of ^bCyrus the Persian.