Daniel 6:13

13 Then they answered and spoke before the king, "¹Daniel, who is one of the exiles * from Judah, pays ²no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day."

Daniel 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 6:13

Then answered they, and spake before the king
Having obtained what they desired, a ratification of the decree, they open the whole affair to him they came about: that Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah,
regardeth not thee, O king:
they call him "that Daniel"; by way of contempt; and, to make him the more despicable, represent him not only as a foreigner, but a captive, and therefore ought to have been humble and obedient, as Jacchiades observes; and a Jewish captive too, of all people the most odious; and, though he had been raised from a low estate to great honour and dignity, yet such was his ingratitude, that he made no account of the king, nor of his orders, but despised him: nor the decree that thou hast signed;
the decree concerning making any petition to God or man for a month, which was signed with the king's own hand, and was firm and stable; and of which Daniel could not be ignorant, and therefore wilfully, and in a contemptuous manner, acted contrary to it: but maketh his petition three times a day;
to whom they say not whether to God or man; but in this general way accuse him which they thought best and safest; they feared, had they mentioned his God, something might have been said in his favour to excuse him; and to aggravate the matter, they observe the frequency of his doing it, three times; so that it was not a single fact he is charged with, but what he had repeated again and again.

Daniel 6:13 In-Context

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

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

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

Cross References

• 1. Daniel 2:25; Daniel 5:13
• 2. Esther 3:8; Daniel 3:12; Acts 5:29

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "sons of the exile"