2
And Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of his friends.
3
Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they spent on it twelve bushels of fine flour and forty sheep and fifty gallons of wine.
4
The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God.
5
And the king said to him, "Why do you not worship Bel?" He answered, "Because I do not revere man-made idols, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all flesh."
6
The king said to him, "Do you not think that Bel is a living God? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?"
7
Then Daniel laughed, and said, "Do not be deceived, O king; for this is but clay inside and brass outside, and it never ate or drank anything."
8
Then the king was angry, and he called his priests and said to them, "If you do not tell me who is eating these provisions, you shall die.
9
But if you prove that Bel is eating them, Daniel shall die, because he blasphemed against Bel." And Daniel said to the king, "Let it be done as you have said."
10
Now there were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel.
11
And the priests of Bel said, "Behold, we are going outside; you yourself, O king, shall set forth the food and mix and place the wine, and shut the door and seal it with your signet.
12
And when you return in the morning, if you do not find that Bel has eaten it all, we will die; or else Daniel will, who is telling lies about us."