¹² So they went to tell the king about this. They said, ‘Remember that you wrote a new law. You commanded that for 30 days, nobody must pray to any god or person, except to you, the king. If anyone prays to someone else, your servants must throw them into the cave where your lions live.’

The king answered them, ‘It is true. It is a law of the Medes and the Persians and nobody can change it.’

¹³ Then the officers said to the king, ‘But Daniel does not obey your new law. He is one of the men that they brought here from Judah. He does not respect you or your law. He still prays three times every day to his God.’

¹⁴ When the king heard this, he was very sad. He tried to think of a way to save Daniel. Until sunset, the king thought about what he could do to save Daniel.^[a]