⁸ Now you write to the Jews, according to what is good in your eyes, in the king’s name, and ^(A)seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a written decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring ^(B)may not be turned back.”

⁸ Now, O king, ^(A)establish the injunction and ^[a]sign the written document so that it may not be changed, according to the ^(B)law of the Medes and Persians, which ^[b]may not be revoked.”

⁹ Therefore King Darius ^(A)signed the written document, that is, the injunction.

¹² Then they came near and ^(A)said before the king concerning the king’s injunction, “Did you not sign an injunction that any man who seeks to make a petition ^[a]to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions’ den?” The king answered and said, “The word is certain, according to the ^(B)law of the Medes and Persians, which ^[b]may not be revoked.” ¹³ Then they answered and said before the king, “^(C)Daniel, who is one of the ^[c]exiles from Judah, pays ^(D)no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps seeking to make his petition three times a day.”

¹⁴ Then, as soon as the king heard this word, he was greatly ^(E)distressed within himself and set his mind on saving Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to deliver him. ¹⁵ Then these men came ^[d]by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a ^(F)law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”