THE BOOK OF DANIEL
chapter 6
According to the Septuagint OLD GREEK manuscripts, kept hidden from English eyes for thousands of years until 2012!
This is a presentation of the book of Daniel with commentary to help establish the timing of the book, and historical context. I also look at the themes and usage of different words used in context. The translation is from Logos Bible Software where it is called the Lexham English Septuagint (LES - copied with permission from Logos Bible Software).
Brannan, R., Penner, K. M., Loken, I., Aubrey, M., & Hoogendyk, I., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Septuagint (Da 2:35). Lexham Press.
6 LES
6:1 Then Darius, full of days and glorious in old age, also set up one hundred and twenty-seven satraps over his entire kingdom.
6:2 And he set over them three men as their overseers, and Daniel was one of the three men
6:3 over all who had authority in the kingdom. And Daniel was clothed with purple, and he was great and highly esteemed before King Darius. He was highly esteemed and skilled and wise and a holy spirit was in him, and he was prosperous in the business of the king that he was performing. At that time, the king was resolving to set Daniel over all of his kingdom, and the two men whom he had set up with him, and also the one hundred and twenty-seven satraps.
6:4 And when the king was resolving to set Daniel over his entire kingdom, at that time they formed a plan and with resolve held a counsel among themselves, the two young leaders with one another, saying that since no fault nor error of ignorance could they find against Daniel, concerning which they could accuse him to the king,
6:5 then they said, “Come now, let us establish a decree concerning ourselves that any person will not be able to offer a petition and will not be able to seek a request from any god during thirty days except from King Darius. But if he will not, he will die.” They did this in order that they might weaken Daniel before the king, and he would be thrown into the den of lions, for they knew that Daniel prayed and entreated the Lord, his God, three times a day.
6:6 Then those men came forward and said in the presence of the king,
6:7 “We have established a decree and a statute that any person who prays a prayer or presents any petition at all from any god during thirty days except from King Darius, they will be thrown into the den of lions.”
6:9 And so King Darius established and confirmed it.
6:10 But when Daniel learned of the decree that he had established, he went over to his window and opened it; it was in the upper part of his house toward Jerusalem. And then he bowed his face three times a day, just as he used to do previously, and he implored his God.
6:11 And they observed Daniel, and then seized him as he was praying three times during the day each day.
6:12 Then these men met with the king and said, “O King Darius, did you not establish a decree that any person could not pray a prayer nor shall he present a request from any god during thirty days except from you, O king, and if he does not, he will be cast into the den of lions?” And the king responded and said to them, “Your assertion is accurate and the decree stands.”
6:12a And they said to him, “We urge you to swear by the decree of the Medes and the Persians that you will not alter the command nor respect the person and that you will not diminish anything of what was proclaimed, and you will punish the person who did not abide by this decree.” And he said, “Thus I will do, just as you say, and this has been established for me.”
6:13 Then they responded, “Look! We discovered Daniel, your friend, praying and beseeching the face of his God three times during the day.”
6:14 Then, grieved, the king said to throw Daniel into the den of lions according to the decree that he had established concerning him. Then the king was very much grieved over Daniel and tried to help him by delivering him, until the setting of the sun, from the hands of the satraps.
6:15 But indeed, he was not able to deliver him from them.
6:16 And crying out, King Darius addressed Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continuously three times during the day, he will rescue you out of the hand of the lions until morning. Be courageous!”
6:17 At that time Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. And a stone was brought and placed into the entrance of the pit, and the king sealed it by the seal-ring of the king himself, and by the rings of his leading men, lest with regard to these things Daniel might be lifted up or the king might pull him up from the pit.
6:18 Then the king returned to his palace, and he passed the night fasting, and he was grieved concerning Daniel. At that time the God of Daniel, giving his attention to the situation, closed the mouths of the lions, and they did not harm Daniel.
6:19 And then King Darius rose up in the early morning and took with himself the satraps. And proceeding up, he stood over the mouth of the den of the lions.
6:20 Then the king summoned Daniel with a loud voice as he wept and proceeded to say, “O Daniel, are you alive, and has your God, whom you serve continuously, saved you from the lions, so that they have not destroyed you?”
6:21 Then Daniel heard the loud cry and said,
6:22 “O king, I am still living. And indeed, God has saved me from the lions, because justice in me was found in his presence, and indeed before you, O king. Neither an error of ignorance nor offense was found in me, but you listened to deceptive men, and you threw me into the den of the lions to destruction.”
6:23 Then all the influential men assembled and viewed Daniel, that the lions did not harm him.
6:24 Then the two men who had testified against Daniel, they and their wives and their children, were thrown to the lions, and the lions slew them and crushed their bones.
6:25 Then Darius wrote to all the peoples and languages and countries who were living in all his land, saying,
6:26 “All persons who are in my kingdom, let them reverence and serve the God of Daniel, for he alone is God, who abides and lives unto generations of generations, into the everlasting generation.
6:27 I myself, Darius, will reverence and serve him all my days, for the idols made by hands are not able to deliver as the God of Daniel has delivered Daniel.
6:28 “And King Darius was added to his family, and Daniel was established over the kingdom of Darius, and Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom.”
commentary