Daniel 6:1-15

Daniel Serves Darius

1 It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 * satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom,

2 and over them three commissioners (of whom ¹Daniel was one ), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer ²loss.

3 Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because * * he possessed an ³extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the ⁴entire kingdom.

4 Then the commissioners and satraps began ⁵trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find ⁶no * ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch * * as he was faithful, and no * negligence or corruption was to be found in him.

5 Then these men said, "We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the ⁷law of his God."

6 Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: "King Darius, ⁸live forever!

7 "All the ⁹commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have ¹⁰consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides * you, O king, for thirty days, shall ¹¹be cast into the lions' den.

8 "Now, O king, ¹²establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the ¹³law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked."

9 Therefore * * King Darius ¹⁴signed the document, that is, the injunction.

10 Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open ¹⁵toward Jerusalem ); and he continued ¹⁶kneeling on his knees three times a day, ¹⁷praying and ¹⁸giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

11 Then these men came ¹⁹by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.

12 Then they approached and ²⁰spoke before the king about the king's injunction, "Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any god or man besides * you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions' den?" The king replied, "The statement is true, according to the ²¹law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked."

13 Then they answered and spoke before the king, "²²Daniel, who is one of the exiles * from Judah, pays ²³no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day."

14 Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply ²⁴distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset * he kept exerting himself to rescue him.

15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, "Recognize, O king, that it is a ²⁵law of the Medes and Persians that no * injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed."

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Daniel 6:1-15 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 25

1. Daniel 2:48, 49; Daniel 5:16, 29
2. Ezra 4:22; Esther 7:4
3. Daniel 5:12, 14; Daniel 9:23
4. Genesis 41:40; Esther 10:3
5. Genesis 43:18; Judges 14:4; Jeremiah 20:10; Daniel 3:8; Luke 20:20
6. Daniel 6:22; Luke 20:26; Luke 23:14, 15; Philippians 2:15; 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 3:16
7. Acts 24:13-16, 20, 21
8. Nehemiah 2:3; Daniel 2:4; Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:21
9. Daniel 3:2, 27
10. Psalms 59:3; Psalms 62:4; Psalms 64:2-6; Psalms 83:1-3
11. Psalms 10:9; Daniel 3:6; Daniel 6:16
12. Esther 3:12; Esther 8:10; Isaiah 10:1
13. Esther 1:19; Esther 8:8; Daniel 6:12, 15
14. Psalms 118:9; Psalms 146:3
15. 1 Kin 8:44, 48, 49; Psalms 5:7; Jonah 2:4
16. Psalms 55:17; Psalms 95:6
17. Daniel 9:4-19
18. Psalms 34:1; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 18
19. Psalms 37:32, 33; Daniel 6:6
20. Daniel 3:8-12; Acts 16:19-21
21. Esther 1:19; Daniel 6:8, 15
22. Daniel 2:25; Daniel 5:13
23. Esther 3:8; Daniel 3:12; Acts 5:29
24. Mark 6:26
25. Esther 8:8; Psalms 94:20, 21; Daniel 6:8, 12

Footnotes 12

[a]. Ch 6:2 in Aram
[b]. Lit "above"
[c]. Lit "there was in him"
[d]. Lit "the kingdom"
[e]. Or "thronging"
[f]. Or "pit," and so throughout the ch
[g]. Lit "does not pass away"
[h]. Or "because"
[i]. Or "thronging"
[j]. Lit "does not pass away"
[k]. Lit "sons of the exile"
[l]. Or "thronging"