Daniel 6:19

God Rescues Daniel from the Lions

6:19 In the morning, at the earliest sign of daylight, the king got up and rushed to the lions’ den.

Daniel 6:23-24

6:23 Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God. 6:24 The king gave another order, ¹  and those men who had maliciously accused ²  Daniel were brought and thrown ³  into the lions’ den – they, their children, and their wives. ⁴  They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Daniel 6:17

6:17 Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening ⁵  to the den. The king sealed ⁶  it with his signet ring and with those ⁷  of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel.

Daniel 6:16

6:16 So the king gave the order, ⁸  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ⁹  of lions. The king consoled ¹⁰  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

Daniel 6:20

6:20 As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice, ¹¹  “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you continually serve able to rescue you from the lions?”

Daniel 6:7

6:7 To all the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors it seemed like a good idea for a royal edict to be issued and an interdict to be enforced. For the next thirty days anyone who prays ¹²  to any god or human other than you, O king, should be thrown into a den of lions.

Daniel 6:12

6:12 So they approached the king and said to him, ¹³  “Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?” The king replied, “That is correct, ¹⁴  according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.”

¹ tn Aram “said.”

² tn Aram “had eaten the pieces of.” The Aramaic expression is ironic, in that the accusers who had figuratively “eaten the pieces of Daniel” are themselves literally devoured by the lions.

³ tn The Aramaic active impersonal verb is often used as a substitute for the passive.

⁴ tc The LXX specifies only the two overseers, together with their families, as those who were cast into the lions’ den.

¹ tn Aram “mouth.”

² sn The purpose of the den being sealed was to prevent unauthorized tampering with the opening of the den. Any disturbance of the seal would immediately alert the officials to improper activity of this sort.

³ tn Aram “the signet rings.”

¹ tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

² sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

³ tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”

¹ tn Aram “The king answered and said to Daniel.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons; it is redundant in English.

¹ tn Aram “prays a prayer.”

¹ tc The MT also has “about the edict of the king,” but this phrase is absent in the LXX and the Syriac. The present translation deletes the expression.

² tn Aram “the word is true.”