Daniel 6:16-26

16 Tunc rex praecepit: et adduxerunt Danielem, et miserunt eum in lacum leonum. Dixitque rex Danieli: Deus tuus, quem colis semper, ipse liberabit te.
17 Allatusque est lapis unus, et positus est super os laci: quem obsignavit rex annulo suo, et annulo optimatum suorum, nequid fieret contra Danielem.
18 Et abiit rex in domum suam, et dormivit incoenatus, cibique non sunt allati coram eo, insuper et somnus recessit ab eo.
19 Tunc rex primo diluculo consurgens, festinus ad lacum leonum perrexit:
20 appropinquansque lacui, Danielem voce lacrymabili inclamavit, et affatus est eum: Daniel serve Dei viventis, Deus tuus, cui tu servis semper, putasne valuit te liberare a leonibus?
21 Et Daniel regi respondens ait: Rex in aeternum vive:
22 Deus meus misit angelum suum, et conclusit ora leonum, et non nocuerunt mihi: quia coram eo iustitia inventa est in me: sed et coram te, rex, delictum non feci.
23 Tunc vehementer rex gavisus est super eo, et Danielem praecepit educi de lacu: eductusque est Daniel de lacu, et nulla laesio inventa est in eo, quia credidit Deo suo.
24 Iubente autem rege, adducti sunt viri illi, qui accusaverant Danielem: et in lacum leonum missi sunt, ipsi, et filii, et uxores eorum: et non pervenerunt usque ad pavimentum laci, donec arriperent eos leones, et omnia ossa eorum comminuerunt.
25 Tunc Darius rex scripsit universis populis, tribubus, et linguis habitantibus in universa terra: PAX vobis multiplicetur.
26 A me constitutum est decretum, ut in universo imperio, et regno meo tremiscant, et paveant Deum Danielis. ipse est enim Deus vivens, et aeternus in saecula: et regnum eius non dissipabitur, et potestas eius usque in aeternum.

Daniel 6:16-26 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.

The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.