Daniel 6:13-23

Living Bible

¹³ Then they told the king, “That fellow Daniel, one of the Jewish captives, is paying no attention to you or your law. He is asking favors of his God three times a day.”

¹⁴ Hearing this, the king was very angry with himself for signing the law and determined to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day trying to think of some way to get Daniel out of this predicament.

¹⁵ In the evening the men came again to the king and said, “Your Majesty, there is nothing you can do. You signed the law, and it cannot be changed.”

¹⁶ So at last the king gave the order for Daniel’s arrest, and he was taken to the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you worship continually, deliver you.” And then they threw him in. ¹⁷ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with that of his government, so that no one could rescue Daniel from the lions.

¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and went to bed without dinner. He refused his usual entertainment and didn’t sleep all night. ¹⁹ Very early the next morning he hurried out to the lions’ den ²⁰ and called out in anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the Living God, was your God, whom you worship continually, able to deliver you from the lions?”

²¹ Then he heard a voice! “Your Majesty, live forever!” It was Daniel! ²² “My God has sent his angel,” he said, “to shut the lions’ mouths so that they can’t touch me, for I am innocent before God; nor, sir, have I wronged you.”

²³ The king was beside himself with joy and ordered Daniel lifted from the den. And not a scratch was found on him because he believed in his God.