¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the ^(A)Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a ^(B)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(C)feared God, and did not do ^(D)as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.

^4 (A)So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. ⁵ Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”

⁶ So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: ^(B)“King Darius, live forever! ⁷ All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have ^(C)consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. ⁸ Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the ^(D)law of the Medes and Persians, which ^[a]does not alter.” ⁹ Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

¹⁰ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open ^(E)toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees ^(F)three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.