So, the king gave orders to have Daniel brought in and cast into the lions’ den. But before they threw him into the lions’ den, the king said to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve so faithfully, he will surely come to rescue you.”
A large stone was then brought and placed over the opening of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of each of his nobles so that Daniel’s fate might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace, where he spent the night fasting; he had no supper brought to him and could not sleep a wink.
At the first sign of dawn, the king rose from his bed and hurried off to the lions’ den. As he drew near the den of lions, he called out to Daniel with a trembling voice: “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so faithfully, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
Then he heard a voice; it was Daniel—he was still alive! “O king, live forever,” answered Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who sealed the mouths of the lions. I am unharmed and without a scratch. For I have been found innocent before my God and before you, too, O king. I have committed no wrong.”
The king was beside himself with joy! And he gave orders to have Daniel taken up out of the lions’ den. When the servants brought him up from the den, they could find no trace of injury on his body because he had trusted in his God. Then at the king’s command, those politicians who had maliciously plotted against Daniel, along with their wives and children, were arrested and flung into the lions’ den. And before they reached the bottom, the lions pounced on them and devoured them, bones and all.
After that, King Darius wrote the following to all the people groups of his kingdom, those of every nation, tribe, and tongue throughout the land:
“May peace and prosperity be greatly multiplied to you!
I hereby decree that throughout my royal dominion,
all people everywhere will tremble in fear
before the God whom Daniel worships.
He is the living God, enduring forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and his dominion continues without end.
He is a mighty savior and deliverer.
He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth,
He alone has rescued Daniel from the claws of the lions.”
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