Daniel 6:15-25

15 Then these men went to the king and said to him, "You as king know it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or ordinance the king establishes can be changed."
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing in regard to Daniel could be changed.
18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions[a] were brought to him, and he could not sleep.

Daniel Released

19 At the first light of dawn the king got up and hurried to the lions' den.
20 When he reached the den, he cried out in anguish to Daniel. "Daniel, servant of the living God," the king said,[b] "has your God whom you serve continually been able to rescue you from the lions?"
21 Then Daniel spoke with the king: "May the king live forever.
22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths. They haven't hurt me, for I was found innocent before Him. Also, I have not committed a crime against you my king."
23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. So Daniel was taken out of the den, uninjured, for he trusted in his God.
24 The king then gave the command, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel[c][d] were brought and thrown into the lions' den-they, their children, and their wives. They had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Darius Honors God

25 Then King Darius wrote to those of every people, nation, and language who live in all the earth: "May your prosperity abound.

Daniel 6:15-25 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.

Footnotes 4

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