Daniel 14:18-27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
18 As soon as he had opened the door, the king looked at the table and cried aloud, “You are great, O Bel; there is no deceit in you.” 19 [a]But Daniel laughed and kept the king from entering. He said, “Look at the floor and consider whose footprints these are.” 20 “I see the footprints of men, women, and children!” said the king. 21 [b]In his wrath the king arrested the priests, their wives, and their children. They showed him the secret door by which they used to enter to consume what was on the table. 22 The king put them to death, and handed Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.
23 There was a great dragon[c] which the Babylonians revered. 24 The king said to Daniel, “You cannot deny that this is a living god, so worship it.” 25 But Daniel answered, “I worship the Lord, my God, for he is the living God. 26 Give me permission, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club.” “I give you permission,” the king said. 27 Then Daniel took some pitch, fat, and hair; these he boiled together and made into cakes. He put them into the mouth of the dragon, and when the dragon ate them, he burst. “This,” he said, “is what you revered.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 14:19 Note that here the king seems unaware of Daniel’s ruse.
- 14:21–22 These verses in the Septuagint Greek text read: “21 And he went to the house where the priests had come, and he found Bel’s food and the wine, and Daniel showed the king the false doors through which the priests entered and consumed what had been set before Bel. 22 The king led them out of the temple of Bel and gave them over to Daniel. He gave Daniel what was expended on him and destroyed Bel.”
- 14:23 Dragon: or “serpent,” and see v. 27. Sacred snakes are well attested in the ancient world (e.g., in the temple of the god of healing Asclepius at Epidaurus), though evidence for their veneration in Babylon is doubtful.
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