Daniel 6:4-24

4 Then the commissioners and satraps began ¹trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find ²no * 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 ³law of his God."

6 Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: "King Darius, ⁴live forever!

7 "All the ⁵commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have ⁶consulted 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 ⁷be cast into the lions' den.

8 "Now, O king, ⁸establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the ⁹law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked."

9 Therefore * * King Darius ¹⁰signed 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 ¹¹toward Jerusalem ); and he continued ¹²kneeling on his knees three times a day, ¹³praying and ¹⁴giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

11 Then these men came ¹⁵by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.

12 Then they approached and ¹⁶spoke 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 ¹⁷law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked."

13 Then they answered and spoke before the king, "¹⁸Daniel, who is one of the exiles * from Judah, pays ¹⁹no 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 ²⁰distressed 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 ²¹law of the Medes and Persians that no * injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed."

Daniel in the Lions' Den

16 Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and ²²cast into the lions' den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "²³Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you."

17 A ²⁴stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing * would be changed in regard to Daniel.

18 Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night ²⁵fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his ²⁶sleep fled from him.

19 Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions' den.

20 When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has ²⁷your God, whom you constantly serve, been ²⁸able to deliver you from the lions?"

21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, "²⁹O king, live forever!

22 "My God ³⁰sent His angel and ³¹shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch * * as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime."

23 Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and ³²no * injury whatever was found on him, because he had ³³trusted in his God.

24 The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously * accused * Daniel, and they ³⁴cast them, their ³⁵children and their wives into the lions' den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before * the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

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Daniel 6:4-24 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 35

1. Genesis 43:18; Judges 14:4; Jeremiah 20:10; Daniel 3:8; Luke 20:20
2. Daniel 6:22; Luke 20:26; Luke 23:14, 15; Philippians 2:15; 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 3:16
3. Acts 24:13-16, 20, 21
4. Nehemiah 2:3; Daniel 2:4; Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:21
5. Daniel 3:2, 27
6. Psalms 59:3; Psalms 62:4; Psalms 64:2-6; Psalms 83:1-3
7. Psalms 10:9; Daniel 3:6; Daniel 6:16
8. Esther 3:12; Esther 8:10; Isaiah 10:1
9. Esther 1:19; Esther 8:8; Daniel 6:12, 15
10. Psalms 118:9; Psalms 146:3
11. 1 Kin 8:44, 48, 49; Psalms 5:7; Jonah 2:4
12. Psalms 55:17; Psalms 95:6
13. Daniel 9:4-19
14. Psalms 34:1; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 18
15. Psalms 37:32, 33; Daniel 6:6
16. Daniel 3:8-12; Acts 16:19-21
17. Esther 1:19; Daniel 6:8, 15
18. Daniel 2:25; Daniel 5:13
19. Esther 3:8; Daniel 3:12; Acts 5:29
20. Mark 6:26
21. Esther 8:8; Psalms 94:20, 21; Daniel 6:8, 12
22. 2 Samuel 3:39; Jeremiah 38:5; Daniel 6:7
23. Job 5:19; Psalms 37:39, 40; Isaiah 41:10; Daniel 3:17, 28; Daniel 6:20; 2 Corinthians 1:10
24. Lamentations 3:53; Matthew 27:66
25. 2 Samuel 12:16, 17
26. Esther 6:1; Psalms 77:4; Daniel 2:1
27. Daniel 6:16, 27
28. Genesis 18:14; Numbers 11:23; Jeremiah 32:17; Daniel 3:17
29. Daniel 2:4; Daniel 6:6
30. Numbers 20:16; Isaiah 63:9; Daniel 3:28; Acts 12:11; Hebrews 1:14
31. Psalms 91:11-13; 2 Timothy 4:17; Hebrews 11:33
32. Daniel 3:25, 27
33. 1 Chronicles 5:20; 2 Chronicles 20:20; Psalms 118:8, 9; Isaiah 26:3; Daniel 3:17, 28
34. Deuteronomy 19:18, 19; Esther 7:10
35. Deuteronomy 24:16; 2 Kings 14:6; Esther 9:10

Footnotes 14

[a]. Lit "the kingdom"
[b]. Or "thronging"
[c]. Or "pit," and so throughout the ch
[d]. Lit "does not pass away"
[e]. Or "because"
[f]. Or "thronging"
[g]. Lit "does not pass away"
[h]. Lit "sons of the exile"
[i]. Or "thronging"
[j]. Or "May your God...Himself deliver you"
[k]. Lit "with"
[l]. Lit "innocence was found for me"
[m]. Lit "before"
[n]. Lit "eaten the pieces of Daniel"