Daniel 6:13-24

God’s Miraculous Deliverance of Daniel Again

13 Then {they responded} and said before the king, "Daniel, who [is] from {the exiles} of Judah, {is not paying any attention} to you, O king, or to the decree that you have signed, {and three times daily} he says his prayer."

14 Then the king, when he heard that {report}, he was extremely distressed over it; and {concerning Daniel} {he was determined} to rescue him. And until the setting of the sun he was making every effort to deliver him.

15 Then these men came as [a] group to the king and {said}, "Recall, O king, that [with respect to] [the] law of [the] Medes and Persians that {any} decree or edict that the king establishes cannot be changed."

16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought in and they threw [him] into {the lion pit}. {The king said} to Daniel, "Your God, whom you serve {faithfully}, may he rescue you!"

17 And a stone was brought and it was put on the entrance of the pit, and the king sealed it with his signet [ring] and with the signet [rings] of his lords, so that nothing would be changed concerning Daniel.

18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night in fasting, and no food was brought in before him and his sleep fled from him.

19 Then the king got up at daybreak, at first light, and he went {in haste} to {the lion pit}.

20 And {when he came near} to the pit, he cried out to Daniel with [a] distressed voice, [and] the king {spoke} and said to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God whom you serve faithfully, was he able to rescue you from the lions?"

21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, "O king, live {forever}!

22 My God sent his angel and he shut the mouth of the lions and they did not hurt me, {because} before him {I was found} blameless, and also before you, O king, I have not done [any] wrong."

23 Then the king was exceedingly glad over it and commanded [that] Daniel be lifted up from the pit; and [there] was not any wound found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 The king then commanded, and these men were brought {who had accused Daniel}, and they threw them and their children and their wives into {the lion pit}, and they had not reached the floor of the pit {before} the lions had overpowered them and they had crushed all of their bones.

Daniel 6:13-24 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "they answered"
• [b]. Literally "the sons of the exile"
• [c]. Aramaic "Jehud"
• [d]. Literally "not he sets [his mind]"
• [e]. Literally "and three times on the day"
• [f]. Aramaic "as "
• [g]. Literally "word"
• [h]. Literally "upon Daniel"
• [i]. Literally "he set [his] heart"
• [j]. Literally "saying"
• [k]. Aramaic "to"
• [l]. Literally "all/every"
• [m]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [n]. Literally "The king answered and saying"
• [o]. Literally "in the loyalty"
• [p]. Aramaic "one"
• [q]. Or "nobles"
• [r]. Literally "to hasten"
• [s]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [t]. Literally "as coming near him"
• [u]. Literally "answered"
• [v]. Aramaic "with"
• [w]. Literally "unto endless ages"
• [x]. Aramaic "would not"
• [y]. Literally "all of because that"
• [z]. Literally "it was found for me"
• [aa]. That is, the situation
• [ab]. Literally "they ate his pieces of Daniel"
• [ac]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [ad]. Literally "until that"