Daniel 6:10-15

6:10 When Daniel realized ¹  that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows ²  in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. ³  Three ⁴  times daily he was ⁵  kneeling ⁶  and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously. 6:11 Then those officials who had gone to the king ⁷  came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God. 6:12 So they approached the king and said to him, ⁸  “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, ⁹  according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.” 6:13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the captives ¹⁰  from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the edict that you issued. Three times daily he offers his prayer.” ¹¹ 

6:14 When the king heard this, ¹²  he was very upset and began thinking about ¹³  how he might rescue Daniel. Until late afternoon ¹⁴  he was struggling to find a way to rescue him. 6:15 Then those men came by collusion to the king and ¹⁵  said to him, ¹⁶  “Recall, ¹⁷  O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or decree that the king issues can be changed.”

[6:10]  ¹ tn Aram “knew.”

[6:10]  ² sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.

[6:10]  ³ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:10]  ⁴ sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.

[6:10]  ⁵ tc Read with several medieval Hebrew MSS and printed editions הֲוָה (havah) rather than the MT הוּא (hu’).

[6:10]  ⁶ tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).

[6:11]  ⁷ tn Aram “those men”; the referent (the administrative officials who had earlier approached the king about the edict) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ⁸ 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.

[6:12]  ⁹ tn Aram “the word is true.”

[6:13]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “from the sons of the captivity [of].”

[6:13]  ¹¹ tn Aram “prays his prayer.”

[6:14]  ¹² tn Aram “the word.”

[6:14]  ¹³ tn Aram “placed his mind on.”

[6:14]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “the entrances of the sun.”

[6:15]  ¹⁵ tc Theodotion lacks the words “came by collusion to the king and.”

[6:15]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “the king.”

[6:15]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”