The Plot against Daniel

1It was acceptable before Darius, and he established over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who would be over all the kingdom; 2and over them three administrators, of whom Daniel was one, that these satraps should be giving an account of themselves, so that the king should not be suffering loss. 3Then this Daniel came to be distinguished over the administrators and the satraps, because that an extraordinary spirit was in him; and the king was planning to establish him over all of the kingdom.

4Then the administrators and the satraps were looking for a matter to find against Daniel regarding the kingdom, and any matter or corruption they were not able to find, all because that he was trustworthy, and there was not found any neglect or corruption in him. 5Then these men said that, “We shall not find against this Daniel any charge, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”

6Then these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king, and thus they said to him: “O King Darius, may you live forever! 7Have consulted together all the administrators of the kingdom—the administrators and the satraps, the counselors and the advisors—to establish a statute of the king and to make firm a decree that anyone who makes a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8Now, O king, may you establish this decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Mede and Persian, which shall not pass away!”

9All because of this, King Darius signed the writing and the decree.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

10And Daniel, when he came to know that the writing was signed, he went to his house, and the windows were opened unto him in his upper room toward Jerusalem; and three times in a day he would kneel down on his knees and pray and give thanks before his God, as was his custom from before this. 11Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 12Then they went and spoke before the king concerning the decree of the king: “Did you not sign a decree that every man who makes a petition of any god or man up to thirty days, except of you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?”

The king answered and said, “Certain is the word, according to the law of the Mede and Persian, which shall not pass away.”

13Then they answered and said before the king that, “Daniel, who is from the sons of the captivity of Judah, he does not set on you, O king, regard, or on the decree that you have signed, and three times in a day he makes his petition.”

14Then the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and until the going down of the sun he was exerting himself to rescue him.

15Then these men went as a group upon the king, and were saying to the king: “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Mede and Persian that any decree or statute that the king establishes cannot be changed.”

16Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and they cast him into the den of lions.

The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God, to whom you give service continually, may He deliver you.”

17And one stone was brought and was laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his signet ring and with the signets of his nobles, that the matter might not be changed concerning Daniel.

18Then the king went to his palace, and spent the night fasting, and entertainments were not brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

19Then the king arose in the morning at daylight, and he went in haste to the den of lions. 20And at his coming near to the den, to Daniel, with a pained voice he cried out. The king was speaking and saying to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God, to whom you give service continually, has He been able to deliver you from the lions?”

21Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, may you live forever! 22My God sent His angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions, and they have not hurt me, because that before Him was found innocence for me! And also before you, O king, I have not done wrong.”

23Then the king was exceedingly glad himself, and he commanded for Daniel to be brought up from the den. And Daniel was brought up from the den, and not any harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24And the king commanded, and they brought these men who had sought to eat to pieces Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives—and they had not reached to the bottom of the den when the lions overpowered them, and all their bones they broke in pieces.

Darius Honors God

25Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages who were dwelling in all the earth: “May peace to you⁺ abound! 26From before me is set forth a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom they are to be trembling and fearful from before the God of Daniel,

for He is the living God,

and enduring forever,

and His kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed,

and His dominion is to the end!

27He delivers and rescues,

and He works signs and wonders

in heaven and on the earth—

He who has delivered Daniel

from the hand of the lions.”

28And this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus† the Persian.