Daniel 6:19-24

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. 6:20 As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice, ¹  “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you continually serve able to rescue you from the lions?”

6:21 Then Daniel spoke to ²  the king, “O king, live forever! 6:22 My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”

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, ³  and those men who had maliciously accused ⁴  Daniel were brought and thrown ⁵  into the lions’ den – they, their children, and their wives. ⁶  They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

[6:20]  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.

[6:21]  ² tn Aram “with.”

[6:24]  ³ tn Aram “said.”

[6:24]  ⁴ 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.

[6:24]  ⁵ tn The Aramaic active impersonal verb is often used as a substitute for the passive.

[6:24]  ⁶ tc The LXX specifies only the two overseers, together with their families, as those who were cast into the lions’ den.