Daniel 6

Daniel’s co-rulers make a law against praying

Darius decided to appoint 120 governors to rule over the empire along with three superiors to oversee them, and Daniel was made one of the overseers. Daniel became distinguished among the other rulers because he possessed a superior spirit, so the king planned to appoint him over the entire empire. The other governors and overseers looked for ways to incriminate Daniel regarding his work, but they couldn’t find anything incriminating. He was trustworthy, and there was nothing corrupt or negligent about him. They concluded,

“The only way we’ll find anything incriminating about Daniel is if it has to do with God’s law.”

So those rulers met with the king and said,

“Long live King Darius! All of the empire’s overseers, governors, and officials had a meeting and came up with an idea.

We think that the king should enact a decree that says if anyone prays to anyone besides you for the next 30 days, that person will be thrown into the pit of lions.

All you have to do is sign this document and the decree will go into effect. Just like all the other laws of the Medes and Persians, it won't be able to be revoked.”

So King Darius signed the document. 

Daniel continued praying

When Daniel heard that the document had been signed, he continued his practice of going to the top floor of his home, kneeling down by the open windows facing Jerusalem, praying, and thanking God three times a day just like he always did. 

Daniel is thrown into a pit of lions

The other rulers gathered and saw Daniel praying and asking his God for favor, so they approached the king and said,

“Didn’t you sign a decree that said if anyone prays to anyone besides you, oh king, for a thirty-day period, then that person would be thrown into the pit of lions?”

The king replied,

“That is correct—according to the law of the Medes and Persians which can’t be revoked.”

They replied,

“One of the captives from Judah named Daniel doesn’t heed you or you or that decree you signed. He keeps on making his requests known three times a day.”

When the king heard that, he became deeply distressed and set his mind on saving Daniel. He spent the entire day doing everything he could to try to rescue Daniel, but the rulers said,

“Oh King, please remember that the laws made by the Mede and Persian king can’t be changed.”

So the king finally ordered for Daniel to be thrown into the pit of lions, but he told him,

“Your God who you serve relentlessly will save you.”

They brought a stone and used it to cover the mouth of the pit, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and his nobles’ signet rings which prevented anything from being changed. Then the king went back to his palace where he fasted all night without any entertainment and couldn’t sleep. 

God protects Daniel from the lions

The king got up at the break of dawn and went straight to the pit of lions. When he approached the pit, he painfully said,

“Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God who you serve relentlessly able to save you?”

Then Daniel’s voice replied,

“Long live the king! God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they wouldn’t harm me. He found me to be innocent, and I haven’t committed any crimes against you either, oh king!”

The king was thrilled and ordered for him to be taken out of the pit. Daniel emerged without a single injury because he had trusted his God.

King kills malicious rulers & publicly praises God

Then the king gave the orders, and the malicious men were thrown into the pit of lions along with their wives and children. They hadn’t even hit the bottom before the lions attacked them and broke their bones. Then King Darius wrote a letter to the people in every country and in every language in the empire. It said,

“I hope you’re doing well. I made a decree for everyone in the entire empire to be afraid of Daniel's God and tremble before him, because he’s the living God who remains perpetually. His empire won’t ever come to an end, and he’ll reign until the very end. He saves and rescues, and he performs awesome miracles both in heaven and on earth. He even saved Daniel from the lions’ jaws.”

So Daniel grew successful under Darius’s reign and under the reign of Cyrus the Persian.