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⁸ "Issue this decree, O king, and make it unconditional, as if written in stone like all the laws of the Medes and the Persians."

⁹ King Darius signed the decree.

¹⁰ When Daniel learned that the decree had been signed and posted, he continued to pray just as he had always done. His house had windows in the upstairs that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt there in prayer, thanking and praising his God.^11-12 The conspirators came and found him praying, asking God for help. They went straight to the king and reminded him of the royal decree that he had signed. "Did you not," they said, "sign a decree forbidding anyone to pray to any god or man except you for the next thirty days? And anyone caught doing it would be thrown into the lions' den?"

"Absolutely," said the king. "Written in stone, like all the laws of the Medes and Persians."

¹³ Then they said, "Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, ignores you, O king, and defies your decree. Three times a day he prays."

¹⁴ At this, the king was very upset and tried his best to get Daniel out of the fix he'd put him in. He worked at it the whole day long.

¹⁵ But then the conspirators were back: "Remember, O king, it's the law of the Medes and Persians that the king's decree can never be changed."

¹⁶ The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions' den. But he said to Daniel, "Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this."

¹⁷ A stone slab was placed over the opening of the den. The king sealed the cover with his signet ring and the signet rings of all his nobles, fixing Daniel's fate.

¹⁸ The king then went back to his palace. He refused supper. He couldn't sleep. He spent the night fasting.^19-20 At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?"^21-22 "O king, live forever!" said Daniel. "My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I've been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I've done nothing to harm you."

²³ When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn't a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.

²⁴ Then the king commanded that the conspirators who had informed on Daniel be thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. Before they hit the floor, the lions had them in their jaws, tearing them to pieces.^25-27 King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:

²⁸ From then on, Daniel was treated well during the reign of Darius, and also in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian.