Daniel 6:6-10

6 Then these 1presidents and 2satraps came by agreement[a] to the king and said to him, "O 3King Darius, live forever!
7 All the 4presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the 5counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an 6injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
8 Now, O king, establish 7the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to 8the law of 9the Medes and the Persians, 10which cannot be revoked."
9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and 11injunction.
10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where 12he had windows in his upper chamber open 13toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees 14three times a day and prayed and 15gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Daniel 6:6-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 6

This chapter gives an account of Daniel's being cast into the den of lions, and the causes of it, and the steps leading to it; and also of his wonderful deliverance out of it, and what followed upon that. It first relates how Daniel was made by Darius first president of the princes of the kingdom, which drew their envy upon him, Da 6:1-4, and that these princes finding they could get no occasion against him, but in religion, proposed to the king to make a law forbidding prayer to any god for thirty days, which they got established, Da 6:5-9, and Daniel breaking this law, is accused by them to the king; and the penalty, casting into the den of lions, is insisted on to be executed, Da 6:10-13, which the king laboured to prevent, but in vain; and Daniel is cast to the lions, to the great grief of the king, Da 6:14-18, who visited the den the next morning, and to his great joy found Daniel alive, Da 6:19-23, upon which, by the law of retaliation, his accusers, their wives, and children, were cast into it, Da 6:24, and an edict was published by the king, commanding all in his dominions to fear and reverence the God of Daniel, Da 6:25-28.

Cross References 15

  • 1. [See ver. 2 above]
  • 2. [See ver. 1 above]
  • 3. ver. 21; See Daniel 2:4
  • 4. [See ver. 2 above]
  • 5. Daniel 3:24; Daniel 4:36
  • 6. ver. 12, 13, 15
  • 7. [See ver. 7 above]
  • 8. ver. 12, 15; Esther 1:19
  • 9. [Daniel 8:20]
  • 10. [ver. 15; Esther 8:8]
  • 11. [See ver. 7 above]
  • 12. [Psalms 137:5]
  • 13. [Psalms 28:2; Psalms 138:2]; See 1 Kings 8:48
  • 14. Psalms 55:17
  • 15. [Daniel 2:23]

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or came thronging; also verses 11, 15
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.