1
When King Astyages was laid with his fathers, Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom.
2
And Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of his friends.
3
Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they spent on it twelve bushels of fine flour and forty sheep and fifty gallons of wine.
4
The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God.
5
And the king said to him, "Why do you not worship Bel?" He answered, "Because I do not revere man-made idols, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all flesh."
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.