Daniel 6

¹ and Darius the Mede[*a] received the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

² It pleased Darius to appoint a hundred and twenty satraps over his kingdom for the various parts of the kingdom,

³ and over them three presidents – of whom Daniel was one – to whom the satraps were to be responsible. This was to ensure that no harm should come to the king.

⁴ This Daniel, by virtue of the marvellous spirit residing in him, was so evidently superior to the presidents and satraps that the king considered appointing him to rule the whole kingdom.

⁵ The presidents and satraps in consequence started hunting for some affair of state by which they could discredit Daniel; but they could find nothing to his discredit, and no case of negligence; he was so punctilious that they could not find a single instance of maladministration or neglect.

⁶ These men then thought, ‘We shall never find a way of discrediting Daniel unless we try something to do with the law of his God’.

⁷ The presidents and satraps then went in a body to the king. ‘King Darius,’ they said ‘live for ever!

⁸ We are all agreed, the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counsellors and governors, that the king should issue a decree enforcing the following regulation: whoever within the next thirty days prays to anyone, god or man, other than to yourself O king, is to be thrown into the lions’ den.

⁹ O king, ratify the edict at once by signing this document, making it unalterable, as befits the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.’

¹⁰ King Darius accordingly signed the document embodying the edict.

¹¹ When Daniel heard that the document had been signed, he retired to his house. The windows of his upstairs room faced towards Jerusalem. Three times each day he continued to fall on his knees, praying and giving praise to God as he had always done.

¹² These men came along in a body and found Daniel praying and pleading with God.

¹³ They then came to the king and said, ‘Have you not just signed an edict forbidding any man for the next thirty days to pray to anyone, god or man, other than to yourself O king, on pain of being thrown into the lions’ den?’ ‘The decision stands,’ the king replied ‘as befits the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.’

¹⁴ Then they said to the king, ‘O king, this man Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, disregards both you and the edict which you have signed: he is at his prayers three times each day’.

¹⁵ When the king heard these words he was deeply distressed, and determined to save Daniel; he racked his brains until sunset to find some way out.

¹⁶ But the men came back in a body to the king and said, ‘O king, remember that in conformity with the law of the Medes and the Persians, no edict or decree can be altered when once issued by the king’.

¹⁷ The king then ordered Daniel to be fetched and thrown into the lion pit. The king said to Daniel, ‘Your God himself, whom you have served so faithfully, will have to save you’.

¹⁸ A stone was then brought and laid over the mouth of the pit; and the king sealed it with his own signet and with that of his noblemen, so that there could be no going back on the original decision about Daniel.

¹⁹ The king returned to his palace, spent the night in fasting and refused to receive any of his concubines. Sleep eluded him,

²⁰ and at the first sign of dawn he was up, and hurried off to the lion pit.

²¹ As he approached the pit he shouted in anguished tones, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God! Has your God, whom you serve so faithfully, been able to save you from the lions?’

²² Daniel replied, ‘O king, live for ever!

²³ My God sent his angel who sealed the lions’ jaws, they did me no harm, since in his sight I am blameless, and I have never done you any wrong either, O king.’

²⁴ The king was overjoyed, and ordered Daniel to be released from the pit. Daniel was released from the pit, and found to be quite unhurt, because he had trusted in his God.

²⁵ The king sent for the men who had accused Daniel and had them thrown into the lion pit, they, their wives and their children: and they had not reached the floor of the pit before the lions had seized them and crushed their bones to pieces.

²⁶ King Darius then wrote to men of all nations, peoples and languages throughout the world, ‘May peace be always with you!

²⁷ I decree: in every kingdom of my empire let all tremble with fear before the God of Daniel: He is the living God, he endures for ever, his sovereignty will never be destroyed and his kingship never end.

²⁸ He saves, sets free, and works signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth; he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.’

²⁹ This Daniel flourished in the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.