Daniel 6:8-18

8 Nunc itaque rex confirma sententiam, et scribe decretum: ut non immutetur quod statutum est a Medis et Persis, nec praevaricari cuiquam liceat.
9 Porro rex Darius proposuit edictum, et statuit.
10 Quod cum Daniel comperisset, id est, constitutam legem, ingressus est domum suam: et fenestris apertis in coenaculo suo contra Ierusalem tribus temporibus in die flectebat genua sua, et adorabat, confitebaturque coram Deo suo sicut et ante facere consueverat.
11 Viri ergo illi curiosius inquirentes invenerunt Danielem orantem, et obscerantem Deum suum.
12 Et accedentes locuti sunt regi super edicto: Rex numquid non constituisti, ut omnis homo, qui rogaret quemquam de diis, et hominibus usque ad dies triginta, nisi te, rex, mitteretur in lacum leonum? Ad quos respondens rex, ait: verus est sermo iuxta decretum Medorum, atque Persarum, quod praevaricari non licet.
13 Tunc respondentes dixerunt coram rege: Daniel de filiis captivitatis Iuda, non curavit de lege tua, et de edicto, quod constituisti: sed tribus temporibus per diem orat obsecratione sua.
14 Quod verbum cum audisset rex, satis contristatus est: et pro Daniele posuit cor ut liberaret eum, et usque ad occasum solis laborabat ut erueret illum.
15 Viri autem illi intelligentes regem dixerunt ei: Scito rex, quia lex Medorum, atque Persarum est ut omne decretum, quod constituerit rex, non liceat immutari.
16 Tunc rex praecepit: et adduxerunt Danielem, et miserunt eum in lacum leonum. Dixitque rex Danieli: Deus tuus, quem colis semper, ipse liberabit te.
17 Allatusque est lapis unus, et positus est super os laci: quem obsignavit rex annulo suo, et annulo optimatum suorum, nequid fieret contra Danielem.
18 Et abiit rex in domum suam, et dormivit incoenatus, cibique non sunt allati coram eo, insuper et somnus recessit ab eo.

Daniel 6:8-18 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.

The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.