1
It has been good before Darius, and he has established over the kingdom satraps—one hundred and twenty—that they may be throughout the whole kingdom,
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and three presidents higher than they, of whom Daniel [is] first, that these satraps may give to them an account, and the king have no loss.
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Then this Daniel has been overseer over the presidents and satraps, because that an excellent spirit [is] in him, and the king has thought to establish him over the whole kingdom.
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Then the presidents and satraps have been seeking to find a cause of complaint against Daniel concerning the kingdom, and any cause of complaint and corruption they are not able to find, because that he [is] faithful, and any error and corruption have not been found in him.
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Then these men are saying, “We do not find against this Daniel any cause of complaint, except we have found [it] against him in the Law of his God.”
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Then these presidents and satraps have assembled near the king, and thus they are saying to him: “O King Darius, live for all ages!
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Taken counsel have all the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counselors, and the governors, to establish a royal statute, and to strengthen an interdict, that any who seeks a petition from any god and man until thirty days, except of you, O king, is cast into a den of lions.
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Now, O king, you establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it is not to be changed, as a law of Media and Persia, that does not pass away.”
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Therefore King Darius has signed the writing and interdict.
Daniel in the Lions’ Den
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And Daniel, when he has known that the writing is signed, has gone up to his house, and the window being opened for him, in his upper chamber, toward Jerusalem, three times in a day he is kneeling on his knees, and praying, and confessing before his God, because that he was doing [it] before this.
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Then these men have assembled, and found Daniel praying and pleading grace before his God;
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then they have come near, indeed, they are saying before the king concerning the king’s interdict: “Have you not signed an interdict, that any man who seeks from any god and man until thirty days, except of you, O king, is cast into a den of lions?” The king has answered and said, “The thing [is] certain as a law of Media and Persia, that does not pass away.”
13
Then they have answered, indeed, they are saying before the king, that, “Daniel, who [is] of the sons of the expulsion of Judah, has not placed on you, O king, [any] regard, nor on the interdict that you have signed, and three times in a day he is seeking his petition.”
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Then the king, when he has heard the matter, is greatly displeased at himself, and on Daniel he has set the heart to deliver him, and until the going up of the sun he was arranging to deliver him.
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Then these men have assembled near the king, and are saying to the king, “Know, O king, that the law of Media and Persia [is] that any interdict and statute that the king establishes is not to be changed.”
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Then the king has spoken, and they have brought Daniel, and have cast [him] into a den of lions. The king has answered and said to Daniel, “Your God, whom you are serving continually, delivers you Himself.”
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And a stone has been brought and placed at the mouth of the den, and the king has sealed it with his signet, and with the signet of his great men, that the purpose is not changed concerning Daniel.
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Then the king has gone to his palace, and he has passed the night fasting, and dahavan have not been brought up before him, and his sleep has fled [from] off him.
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Then the king rises in the early morning, at the light, and he has gone in haste to the den of lions;
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and at his coming near to the den, to Daniel, with a grieved voice, he cries. The king has answered and said to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God, whom you are serving continually, is He able to deliver you from the lions?”
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Then Daniel has spoken with the king: “O king, live for all ages:
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my God has sent His messenger, and has shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not injured me: because that before Him purity has been found in me; and also before you, O king, injury I have not done.”
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Then was the king very glad for him, and he has commanded Daniel to be taken up out of the den, and Daniel has been taken up out of the den, and no injury has been found in him, because he has believed in his God.
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And the king has spoken, and they have brought those men who had accused Daniel, and to the den of lions they have cast them, they, their sons, and their wives; and they have not come to the lower part of the den until the lions have power over them, and all their bones they have broken small.
Darius Honors God
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Then Darius the king has written to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who are dwelling in all the land: “Your peace be great!
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From before me a decree is made, that in every dominion of my kingdom they are trembling and fearing before the God of Daniel, for He [is] the living God, and abiding for all ages, and His kingdom that which [is] not destroyed, and His dominion [is] to the end.
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A deliverer, and rescuer, and doer of signs and wonders in the heavens and in earth [is] He who has delivered Daniel from the paw of the lions.”
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And this Daniel has prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
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