Discovery BoxDaniel 6:9-15
Context6:9 So King Darius issued the written interdict.
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] 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
[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] 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] 17 tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”
