Daniel 6:16-28

16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.

18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.

19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.

20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever!

22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly!

26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.

27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus^[a] the Persian.

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.

Cross References

• 1. S ver 7
• 2. S Job 5:19; Psalms 37:39-40; S Psalms 97:10
• 3. Matthew 27:66
• 4. S 2 Samuel 12:17; Daniel 10:3
• 5. S Esther 6:1; Daniel 2:1
• 6. S Daniel 3:17
• 7. S Nehemiah 2:3; Daniel 3:9; Daniel 2:4
• 8. S Genesis 32:1; S Daniel 3:28
• 9. ver 27; Psalms 91:11-13; Hebrews 11:33
• 10. Acts 12:11; 2 Timothy 4:17
• 11. Daniel 3:27
• 12. S 1 Chronicles 5:20; S Isaiah 12:2
• 13. Deuteronomy 19:18-19; Esther 7:9-10; Psalms 54:5
• 14. Deuteronomy 24:16; 2 Kings 14:6
• 15. S Isaiah 38:13
• 16. S Daniel 3:4
• 17. Daniel 4:1
• 18. S Psalms 5:7
• 19. S Esther 8:17; Psalms 99:1-3; Daniel 3:29
• 20. S Joshua 2:11; S Joshua 3:10
• 21. S Jeremiah 10:10; Daniel 12:7; Revelation 1:18
• 22. S Daniel 2:44; Daniel 4:34
• 23. Daniel 3:29
• 24. S Daniel 4:3
• 25. S ver 22
• 26. S 2 Chronicles 36:22; S Daniel 1:21
• 27. S Daniel 5:28

Footnotes

• [a] Or "Darius, that is, the reign of Cyrus"