Daniel 6:16-28

16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared^[a] to Daniel, "May ¹your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!"

17 ²And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, ³and the king sealed it ⁴with his own signet and with the signet of his ⁵lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.

18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; ⁶no diversions were brought to him, and ⁷sleep fled from him.

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

20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of ⁸the living God, ⁹has your God, whom you serve continually, ¹⁰been able to deliver you from the lions?"

21 Then Daniel said to the king, ¹¹"O king, live forever!

22 My God ¹²sent his angel ¹³and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless ¹⁴before him; ¹⁵and also before you, O king, I have done no harm."

23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and ¹⁶no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 And the king commanded, and ¹⁷those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions--they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.

25 Then King Darius wrote to all ¹⁸the peoples, nations, and languages ¹⁹that dwell in all the earth: ²⁰"Peace be multiplied to you.

26 ²¹I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion ²²people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for ²³he is ²⁴the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, ²⁵and his dominion shall be ²⁶to the end.

27 He delivers and rescues; he works ²⁷signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has ²⁸saved Daniel from the power of the lions."

28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and ²⁹the reign of ³⁰Cyrus the Persian.

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Daniel 6:16-28 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 30

1. [Acts 27:23]
2. [Lamentations 3:53]
3. Matthew 27:66; Revelation 20:3
4. [Esther 3:12]
5. Daniel 4:36; Daniel 5:1
6. [Proverbs 25:20]
7. Esther 6:1; [Daniel 2:1]
8. ver. 26
9. [See ver. 16 above]
10. [Daniel 3:15]
11. See Daniel 2:4
12. Daniel 3:28
13. Hebrews 11:33; [Psalms 22:21; 2 Timothy 4:17]
14. [ver. 4]
15. [ver. 4]
16. [Daniel 3:25]
17. [Deuteronomy 19:19]
18. See Daniel 3:4
19. Daniel 4:1
20. See Daniel 4:1
21. See Daniel 3:10
22. [Daniel 5:19; Psalms 99:1; Ecclesiastes 12:13]
23. ver. 20
24. See Daniel 4:34
25. See Daniel 4:34
26. Daniel 7:26
27. Daniel 4:2
28. [Daniel 3:28, 29]
29. [Daniel 1:21]
30. 2 Chronicles 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:2; Ezra 4:3, 5; Ezra 6:3, 14; Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1; [Daniel 1:21; Daniel 10:1]

Footnotes 1

[a]. Aramaic answered and said; also verse 20

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.