Daniel 6

²¹Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

²²Have these men judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you any major issue, but all minor cases they can judge on their own, so that your load may be lightened as they share it with you.

³¹and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

¹This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush.

¹⁴or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

²²See that you do not neglect this matter. Why allow this threat to increase and the royal interests to suffer?

²⁹Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain around his neck, and proclaimed him the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

⁴⁸Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

⁴⁹And at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.

⁴For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

¹⁶But I have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Therefore, if you can read this inscription and give me its interpretation, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

¹³Beforehand, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Conduct business with this until I return,’ he said.

¹⁴But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’

¹⁴I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that you have insight, intelligence, and extraordinary wisdom.

³⁸So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom the Spirit of God abides?”

³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

¹²did this because Daniel, the one he named Belteshazzar, was found to have an extraordinary spirit, as well as knowledge, understanding, and the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Summon Daniel, therefore, and he will give you the interpretation.”

³For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.

²³At the beginning of your petitions, an answer went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly precious. So consider the message and understand the vision:

¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.

¹⁵so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world

¹²Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

²⁰So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of the governor.

⁸and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.

¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined Him here in your presence and found Him not guilty of your charges against Him.

¹⁵Neither has Herod, for he sent Him back to us. As you can see, He has done nothing deserving of death.

¹³Nor can they prove to you any of their charges against me.

¹⁴I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

⁸Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

²⁰Otherwise, let these men state for themselves any crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

²¹unless it was this one thing I called out as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”

¹⁷and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.

⁶As soon as the chief priests and officers saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” “You take Him and crucify Him,” Pilate replied, “for I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

⁷“We have a law,” answered the Jews, “and according to that law He must die, because He declared Himself to be the Son of God.”

⁴Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

²¹Then Daniel replied, “O king, may you live forever!

³and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

¹⁰Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow pale.

³How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you throw him down like a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

²³“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”

³See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O Lord.

¹A song. A Psalm of Asaph. O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.

²See how Your enemies rage, how Your foes have reared their heads.

⁶And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”

²Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other officials of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue he had set up.

⁴They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah

²⁷and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.

¹⁵Then the men approached the king together and said to him, “Remember, O king, that by the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or ordinance established by the king can be changed.”

¹⁹So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she.

¹Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,

¹²So they approached the king and asked about his royal decree: “Did you not sign a decree that for thirty days any man who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions?” The king replied, “According to the law of the Medes and Persians the order stands, and it cannot be repealed.”

¹²On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

¹⁰Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

⁹It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

³Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.

²²Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

⁹Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

¹⁰Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

²if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,

²⁹But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

¹⁷Morning, noon, and night, I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice.

¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

¹⁸Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

⁶O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

¹Of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, so that the king drove him away. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

³²Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,

³³the Lord will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.

⁹He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.

⁶So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!

⁸Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

⁸At this time some astrologers came forward and maliciously accused the Jews,

⁹saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, may you live forever!

¹⁹So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she.

¹⁹When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.

²⁴On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²When Paul had been called in, Tertullus opened the prosecution: “Because of you, we have enjoyed a lasting peace, and your foresight has brought improvements to this nation.

³In every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with all gratitude.

¹²But there are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who have ignored you, O king, and have refused to serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

²⁹But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

²⁵Arioch hastily brought Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who will tell the king the interpretation.”

⁸Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

¹³So Daniel was brought before the king, who asked him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?

⁶Among these young men were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

²⁶The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her.

¹³Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,

¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined Him here in your presence and found Him not guilty of your charges against Him.

⁷“We have a law,” answered the Jews, “and according to that law He must die, because He declared Himself to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,

²⁸Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.

²⁹May it whirl over the head of Joab and over the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or lacks food.”

¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar, furious with rage, summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king,

¹⁷So when the crowd had assembled, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

¹⁸For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹²So they approached the king and asked about his royal decree: “Did you not sign a decree that for thirty days any man who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions?” The king replied, “According to the law of the Medes and Persians the order stands, and it cannot be repealed.”

⁸Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”

²⁰Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?

²¹They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

⁸Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

³⁹The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their stronghold in time of trouble.

⁴⁰The Lord helps and delivers them; He rescues and saves them from the wicked, because they take refuge in Him.

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.

¹⁴“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

²⁸Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

³⁹And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil!”

⁵³They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.

⁴He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

²³And after striking them with many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely.

²⁴On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.

⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

¹That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.

¹In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled his spirit, and sleep escaped him.

¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.

¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

⁴You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak.

³This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey.

⁴On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”

⁴You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

⁵You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.

⁵For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and that our labor might have been in vain.

²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb.

¹³I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

¹After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

²⁷He delivers and rescues; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

¹¹Seek out the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.

²⁵Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

¹⁶So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”

¹⁶At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

¹⁸Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

⁴Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

⁶So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!

³and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,

¹¹For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

¹²They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

¹¹Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

¹⁶In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

²⁰And because they cried out to God in battle, they were helped against their enemies, and the Hagrites and all their allies were delivered into their hands. Because they put their trust in God, He answered their prayers.

²⁷and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.

²⁸Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

²⁵“Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”

²³“If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”

¹⁸Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.

⁴⁰The Lord helps and delivers them; He rescues and saves them from the wicked, because they take refuge in Him.

¹³I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

⁶Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.”

²⁵But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

¹⁶Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.

⁵He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.

¹King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

²“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.

¹²On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

¹⁷Then the king sent this reply: To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of your associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in the region west of the Euphrates: Greetings.

²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

⁹At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

³⁴But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

³³and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

¹⁴And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

³How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.

¹¹Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

²⁹Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

²I am pleased to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

³How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.

⁵⁰Great salvation He brings to His king. He shows loving devotion to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

¹⁰Hate evil, O you who love the Lord! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

³⁰as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

¹⁸And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁹the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

²⁰You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and You do so to this very day, both in Israel and among all mankind. And You have made a name for Yourself, as is the case to this day.

²¹And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

²²In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

²⁸who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’”

¹In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, and it concerned a great conflict. And the understanding of the message was given to him in a vision.