² He then summoned the satraps,^(A) prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials^(B) to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. ³ So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.

²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers^(A) crowded around them.^(B) They saw that the fire^(C) had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

³ Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.^{(A) 4} At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges^(B) against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. ⁵ Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”^(C)

⁶ So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever!^{(D) 7} The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors^(E) have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.^(F)