¹It seemed good to Darius, and he appointed over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who would be in all the kingdom.

²And over them three chief overseers, of whom Daniel was one, so that these satraps would give them an account, and the king would suffer no injury.

³Then this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the overseers and satraps, because an extraordinary breath was in him, and the king planned to set him up over the whole kingdom.

⁴Then the overseers and satraps were seeking a pretext to find against Daniel from the side of the kingdom, but they were not able to find any pretext or corruption, because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

⁵Then these men said: We will not find any pretext against this Daniel unless we find it against him in the decree of his God.

⁶Then these administrators and satraps thronged to the king and spoke to him like this: O King Darius, live forever!

⁷All the chief overseers of the kingdom — the prefects, the satraps, the counselors, and the governors — took counsel together to set up a statute of the king and to make a ban stringent: whoever asks a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of the lions.

⁸Now, O king, you shall set up the ban and sign the writing, so that it is not changed, like the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not pass away.

⁹Because of this, King Darius signed the writing and the ban.

¹⁰And Daniel, when he knew that the writing had been signed, went into his house, where windows stood open for him in his roof room, facing Jerusalem — and three times a day he knelt on his knees, praying and giving thanks before his God, just as he had been doing before this.

¹¹Then these men came thronging together and found Daniel asking and imploring favor before his God.

¹²Then they approached and said before the king concerning the ban of the king: “Did you not sign a ban that every man who asks of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of the lions?” The king answered and said: “The matter is certain, like the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not pass away.”

¹³Then they answered and said before the king: “Daniel, who is one of the sons of the exiles of Judah, has paid no regard to you, O king, nor to the ban that you signed, and three times a day he asks his petition.”

¹⁴Then the king, when he heard the matter, found it very displeasing to him, and he set his mind on Daniel to rescue him; and until the setting of the sun he was striving to rescue him.

¹⁵Then those men crowded in on the king and said to the king: Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that every ban and statute that the king sets up may not be changed.

¹⁶Then the king said, and they brought Daniel, and threw him to the den of the lions; the king answered and said to Daniel: your God, whom you worship continually, he will rescue you.

¹⁷A single stone was brought and set over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his signet-ring and with the signet-ring of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed concerning Daniel.

¹⁸Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting, and he brought in no musical instruments before him, and his sleep fled from him.

¹⁹Then the king arose at dawn, in the daylight, and in haste he went to the den of the lions.

²⁰And as he approached the den, to Daniel, the king cried out in an anguished sound; he answered and said to Daniel: O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God, whom you worship continually — was he able to rescue you from the lions?

²¹Then Daniel spoke with the king: “O king, live forever!”

²²My God sent his angel and shut the mouth of the lions, and they did not hurt me, because before him innocence was found in me, and also before you, O king, I have done no harmful act.

²³Then the king was very pleased about him, and ordered Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no harm at all was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

²⁴The king gave the order, and they brought those men who had devoured Daniel with slander, and threw them, their sons, and their wives into the den of the lions; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and shattered all their bones.

²⁵Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and tongues that dwell in all the land: “May your well-being increase!”

²⁶From before me a decree is made: in all the dominion of my kingdom they shall be trembling and fearing before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed, and his dominion lasts to the end.

²⁷He rescues and saves, and works signs and wonders in the skies and on the land, he who rescued Daniel from the hand of the lions.

²⁸And this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.