Daniel 6:7–23

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

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

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

¹⁰Now when Daniel knew that the 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 making petition and supplication before his God.

¹²Then they approached and ^aspoke before the king about the king’s injunction, “Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions’ den?” The king replied, “The statement is true, according to the ^blaw of the Medes and Persians, which ¹may not be revoked.”

¹³Then they answered and spoke 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 making his petition three times a day.”

¹⁴Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply ^adistressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him.

¹⁵Then these men came ¹by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Recognize, 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 gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and ^acast into the lions’ den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “^1bYour God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”

¹⁷A ^astone was brought and laid 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 went in haste to the lions’ den.

²⁰When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has ^ayour God, whom you constantly serve, been ^bable to deliver 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 committed no crime.”

²³Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and ^ano injury whatever was found on him, because he had ^btrusted in his God.