14
When the priests had left, the king set out the food for Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring some ashes and scatter them all over the floor of the temple. No one except the king saw them do this. After that they all went out, locked the door, sealed it with the royal seal, and left.
15
That night, as usual, the priests with their wives and children came into the temple by the secret entrance and ate all the food and drank all the wine.
16
Early the next morning, the king and Daniel went to the temple.
17
The king asked, "Have the seals been broken, Daniel?" "No, Your Majesty, they have not been broken," he replied.
18
As soon as the door was opened, the king saw the empty table and shouted, "You are great, O Bel! You really are a god."
19
But Daniel began to laugh and said to the king, "Before you enter the temple, look at the floor and tell me whose footprints you see there."
20
"I see the footprints of men, women, and children," said the king,
21
and he became so angry that he had the priests and their families arrested and brought to him. They showed him the secret doors through which they had come in each night to eat the food placed on the table.
22
So the king had the priests put to death, and he gave Bel to Daniel, who destroyed the idol and tore down its temple.
23
There was also a huge dragon which the Babylonians worshiped.
24
One day the king said to Daniel, "You can't tell me that this god is not alive. So worship him!"