Daniel and the lions
1Darius was king in the land of the Medes. He became king when he was 62 years old. He chose 120 governors to rule over all the lands that belonged to him. 2King Darius also chose 3 chief_officials who had to see that the governors did their work as the king wanted. One of the chief officials was Daniel. 3Daniel did his work better than the other 2 chief_officials and governors did their work, because he was very wise. The king then decided to make Daniel the most important chief official.
4The other 2 chief_officials and the governors tried to find something that Daniel did wrong so that they could accuse Daniel before the king, but they could not find anything that Daniel did wrong, because he did everything well and right. 5The other 2 chief_officials and governors said to each other: ‘We will not find anything that Daniel does wrong to accuse him before the king. The only thing that we can look for is when he does something that the laws of his God tell him to do.’
6The 2 other chief_officials and governors quickly went to the king and said: ‘Your_Majesty, we hope you will live forever. 7All your important_officials have decided that you must make a law that says: “All the people may pray only to you for 30 days. If there is anyone who does not listen and who prays to any other man or god, he will be thrown to the lions.” 8Your_Majesty, you must make this law now and it must be a law of the Medes and Persians, a law that no one can change.’ 9So King Darius wrote the law and he signed it.
10They told Daniel about this new law, but he went into his house and he knelt down and prayed 3 times every day, and he praised God as he always did. He prayed in front of the open windows of his room on the roof. The windows were open towards Jerusalem.
11The other officials came together and they saw Daniel praying to his God. 12They went to the king and said to him: ‘Your_Majesty, you have made a law that says: “All people may pray only to you for 30 days, and if anyone prays to another man or god during these 30 days, then you will throw him to the lions.” ’
The king said: ‘Yes, it is a law of the Medes and Persians. No one can change that law.’
13Then the officials said to the king: ‘One of the men from Judah who is here in Babylon does not want to do what you want. It is Daniel. He does not want to do what the law says. He prays to his God 3 times every day.’
14The king was very sad when he heard this. He wanted to save Daniel and he tried all day to make a plan to save him. 15But those officials went to the king and said to him: ‘Your_Majesty, you must remember that this is a law of the Medes and Persians. No one can change a law that the king has made.’
16Then the king said they must bring Daniel and throw him to the lions. They did that and the king said to Daniel: ‘I pray that your God whom you serve will save you.’
17The lions were in a big hole in the ground. The king's men put a big stone over the hole and they covered it with clay. The king and his important_officials put their seals in the clay so that no one could open the hole to save Daniel. 18The king went home but he did not eat anything that night and he did not talk to anyone. He could not sleep. 19When the sun came up, the king quickly went to the hole where the lions were. 20When he came near the hole, he called loudly and said: ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, could your God save you? You have always served Him. Did He save you?’
21Daniel said to the king: ‘Your_Majesty, I hope you live forever. 22Yes, He has saved me. My God sent an angel and he closed the lions' mouths and they could not kill me. My God did this because He knows that I have not done anything wrong. I have also done nothing against you, Your_Majesty.’
23The king was very happy and he told his men to take Daniel out of the hole. They did that and they saw that the lions had not hurt him. This happened because Daniel trusted his God to help him. 24Then the king told them to bring those men who wanted Daniel to die. The king told the people to throw those men to the lions, with their sons and their wives. The lions killed and ate them before they fell to the ground of the hole.
25King Darius then wrote a letter and sent it to all the people on earth. He wrote: ‘I hope you all are very well. 26I now make a new law that everyone in my kingdom must honour and fear the God of Daniel because He is the living God and He will live forever. He will always be King and rule forever. 27He saves people and makes them free. He gives signs and does miracles in heaven and on earth. He saved Daniel from the lions so that they could not kill him.’
28All went well with Daniel while Darius was king and when Cyrus became king. Cyrus was the man from the land of Persia.
