Read the passage several times through, slowly and prayerfully. It might help to use your imagination to picture the scene. At the end of the text you will find helpful background information in our ‘Setting the Scene’ section.

As you read, look out for shockers and blockers.

Shockers – a phrase, word, image or something from the text that resonates, stands out or connects with you.

Blockers – something from the text that raises questions for you.

Daniel 6.1-14

Darius divided his kingdom into a hundred and twenty states and placed a governor in charge of each one. In order to make sure that his government was run properly, Darius put three other officials in charge of the governors. One of these officials was Daniel. And he did his work so much better than the other governors and officials that the king decided to let him govern the whole kingdom.

The other men tried to find something wrong with the way Daniel did his work for the king. But they could not accuse him of anything wrong, because he was honest and faithful and did everything he was supposed to do. Finally, they said to one another, “We will never be able to bring any charge against Daniel, unless it has to do with his religion.”

They all went to the king and said:

“Your Majesty, we hope you live forever! All of your officials, leaders, advisors, and governors agree that you should make a law forbidding anyone to pray to any god or human except you for the next thirty days. Everyone who disobeys this law must be thrown into a pit of lions. Order this to be written and then sign it, so it cannot be changed, just as no written law of the Medes and Persians can be changed.”

So King Darius made the law and had it written down.

Daniel heard about the law, but when he returned home, he went upstairs and prayed in front of the window that faced Jerusalem. In the same way that he had always done, he knelt down in prayer three times a day, giving thanks to God.

The men who had spoken to the king watched Daniel and saw him praying to his God for help. They went back to the king and said, “Didn’t you make a law that forbids anyone to pray to any god or human except you for the next thirty days? And doesn’t the law say that everyone who disobeys it will be thrown into a pit of lions?”

“Yes, that’s the law I made,” the king agreed. “And just like all written laws of the Medes and Persians, it cannot be changed.”

The men then told the king, “That Jew named Daniel, who was brought here as a captive, refuses to obey you or the law that you ordered to be written. And he still prays to his god three times a day.” The king was really upset to hear about this, and for the rest of the day he tried to think how he could save Daniel.

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Setting the scene:

Daniel was taken prisoner, probably in his mid-teens, by the Babylonian army when Jerusalem was captured. Alongside his friends, he faced all kinds of challenges to keep his Jewish faith in another culture. Daniel was an exceptionally gifted and intelligent man, held in such high esteem that he becomes a statesman-like figure in the government of Babylon. Unable to fault him, his enemies used his religion to set a trap and bring him down.
Daniel’s prayer life seems to follow accustomed practices which included a routine of praying in his room on his knees three times a day.
Daniel knew the consequences of continuing his habitual and public prayer, but chose to risk being thrown in the lion’s den.
The story ends well for Daniel as God sends an angel to protect him from the lions.

Still lyfe

Didn't find what you were looking for?

Work with us

Privacy

Legal