BOOK 27 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Daniel 6

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Daniel 6 Overview

Darius appoints Daniel to high office, provoking jealous officials who can find no corruption in him. They engineer a decree against prayer, Daniel continues praying toward Jerusalem, and God shuts the lions’ mouths; Daniel is delivered while his accusers suffer the punishment they designed for him.

DanielBook

6Chapter

28Verses

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Before you read Daniel 6

Coming from

Daniel 5 ended with Babylon falling and Darius the Mede receiving the kingdom. Daniel 6 shows Daniel continuing faithful public service under the new regime.

In this chapter

Leads into

The book shifts from court narratives to a vision dated earlier in Belshazzar’s reign: four beasts rise from the sea, the Ancient of days sits in judgment, and one like the Son of man receives everlasting dominion.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Daniel’s enemies attack the one area where they know he will not compromise: his relation to the law of his God. His prayer toward Jerusalem reflects the exile setting and earlier temple prayer traditions, not a universal command about Christian prayer direction.

The identity and exact chronology of “Darius the Mede” have been discussed extensively because surviving extrabiblical sources use other titles and names for the transition from Babylon. The chapter’s theological point does not depend on solving every historical identification.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Integrity can make false accusation harder, not impossible

Daniel’s opponents cannot find genuine misconduct, so they weaponize law against his worship.

Obedience to God outranks a sinful civil command

Daniel does not rebel against government generally; he refuses one decree that directly forbids his established worship of God.

God is able to preserve His servant

The lions’ den becomes a public demonstration that Daniel’s God is living and sovereign.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

1 Kings 8:46–50

Solomon anticipated exile and prayed that captives who turned toward Jerusalem and sought God would be heard.

Acts 5:29

Daniel’s conduct illustrates the principle of obeying God rather than men when commands directly conflict.

Hebrews 11:33

The faithful are remembered as those who “stopped the mouths of lions.”

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not turn Daniel’s three daily prayers into a saving ritual or a mandatory schedule.

The chapter describes Daniel’s established practice under persecution; eternal life is not received by maintaining a prayer routine.

Do not promise that faithful servants will always receive miraculous rescue.

Daniel is delivered here, while Scripture also honors faithful servants who suffer and die.

Read Daniel 6 watching for…

Why the officials cannot find ordinary corruption in Daniel.

The legal trap built around Daniel’s worship rather than his job performance.

Daniel’s unchanged prayer practice after the decree.

Darius’s inability to reverse his own law.

The contrast between Daniel’s deliverance and the fate of his accusers.

Chapter outline5 sections

1-5Daniel is preferred above the rulers, and jealous officials can find no fault except concerning God’s law 6-10The officials secure a thirty-day prayer decree, but Daniel continues praying openly to God 11-17Daniel is accused and cast into the lions’ den despite the king’s efforts to deliver him 18-24God shuts the lions’ mouths, Daniel is rescued, and his accusers are cast into the den 25-28Darius commands reverence for Daniel’s living God, and Daniel prospers

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;

And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.

Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.

All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellers, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.

My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

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Daniel 6:3

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