Daniel in the Lions’ Den

King Darius ruled over a great kingdom, and he decided to appoint a hundred and twenty governors to look after every part of it. Over the governors he set three chief ministers, so that the governors would report to them and the king would suffer no loss. The first of these three ministers was Daniel.

Daniel did his work far better than the other ministers and the governors, for there was something truly remarkable about him, and the king planned to put him in charge of the whole kingdom.

So the other ministers and the governors began to watch Daniel closely, hoping to find some mistake in the way he ran the kingdom’s affairs. They found nothing at all. Daniel was honest and faithful, and there was no carelessness or wrongdoing anywhere in his work.

At last the men said to one another, “We will never find anything against this Daniel, unless it has to do with the law of his God.”

Together they went to the king. “Your Majesty, may you live forever!” they said. “All the ministers of the kingdom, the governors and officials, the advisers and the captains have agreed that you should make a royal law and enforce it firmly. For thirty days, anyone who prays to any god or any man except you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.”

They held out the written decree. “Now, Your Majesty, sign it, so that it falls under the law of the Medes and Persians, which can never be altered.”

And King Darius signed the decree.

Daniel learned that the decree had been signed. He went home and up to his room, where the windows stood open toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees there, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had always done.

Soon the men gathered at Daniel’s house, and there they found him praying and asking his God for help.

They went straight to the king and reminded him of his decree. “Your Majesty, didn’t you sign a law that for thirty days anyone who prays to any god or any man except you shall be thrown into the lions’ den?”

“That is so,” the king answered, “according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which can never be altered.”

Only then did they say, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you signed. He still prays three times a day.”

When the king heard this, he was bitterly angry with himself. He made up his mind to save Daniel, and he searched for a way to do it until the sun went down.

That evening the men came to the king together once more. “Remember, Your Majesty,” they said, “that by the law of the Medes and Persians, no decree or law the king makes can ever be changed.”

So the king gave the order, and his men brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king called down to him, “Your God, whom you serve so faithfully, will rescue you.”

A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that no one could change what had been done to Daniel.

Then the king went back to his palace. All that night he ate nothing, and he would not let the musicians be brought in to play for him. He could not sleep.

At the very first light of morning the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near, he called out to Daniel in a voice full of anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Has your God, whom you serve so faithfully, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

Daniel answered, “Your Majesty, may you live forever! My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me, because God found me innocent. And I have never done you any wrong.”

The king was overjoyed, and he ordered his men to lift Daniel out of the den. So Daniel was lifted out, and there was not a scratch on him anywhere, because he had trusted in his God.

At the king’s command, the men who had accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lions’ den, together with their wives and their children. Before they even reached the bottom of the den, the lions seized them and crushed all their bones.

Afterward King Darius wrote a letter to all the peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole earth.

“Peace and prosperity to you all! I decree that in every part of my kingdom, people must tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he endures forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. He rescues and he saves; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He is the one who saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”

So Daniel prospered while Darius was king, and also in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.