Daniel 6:8
in Daniel 6Therefore, 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sign the document so that it cannot be changed—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now, O king, establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
KJV
Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
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This verse in Daniel 6
Commentary
8 notes on this verseVerse 8. "Now therefore, O king, confirm the measure and write the decree so that it may not be altered, according to the custom established by the Medes and Persians." It is perfectly evident, as we have remarked above, that there was only one kingdom of the Medes and Persians both, under the rule of Darius and Cyrus.
This site's exposition
King Darius, live for ever
on Daniel 6:6-9
The conspirators bring the king a decree engineered to look like flattery, thirty days of petitions to Darius alone, and press him to sign it according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not, a formula the bench sets directly beside the same unalterable law governing Esther's court. Barnes reads the appeal to the king's vanity, live for ever, as calculated to keep Darius from asking why such a decree is needed at all, and the trap closes the moment his signature is on the writing, since even a king who wished to reverse it now cannot. The chapter's real subject surfaces here before Daniel appears in the plot at all: a government whose law cannot bend also cannot pardon.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Darius, as he loved quietness and inactivity and found work and business unpleasing, left the care of the empire to his prefects, and for this reason the Scripture adds, he set over the kingdom satraps, that is, 120 governors. And over them he placed three …
Then, having made one decision, they came to the king and said, "Darius, O king, live forever! Your captains and satraps and chiefs and governors have deliberated to set up a royal statute over your kingdom and to confirm an edict, that whoever asks a petition from any God and man for thirty days except from you, O king, shall be cast into the den of the lions. And so now O king, set up the edict and set out a writing because the decree of the Persians and Medes shall not be changed." [Daniel 6:6-8] Then Darius, not perceiving the machination of theirs, purposed a decision, he commended a decree to be written and it to be put forth publicly. For also later Haman wishing to kill Mordecai and his race went to king Artaxerxes and deliberated the same, that by royal decree on the fourteenth of the twelfth month on that one day, all the Jews shall be killed. [Esther 3]
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
According to the law of the Medes and Persians - I do not think that this is to be understood so as to imply that whatever laws or ordinances the Medes or Persians once enacted, they never changed them. This would argue extreme folly in legislators in any country. Nothing more appears to be meant than that the decree should be enacted, written, and registered, according to the legal forms among the Medes and Persians; and this one to be made absolute for thirty days.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
decree--or, "interdict." that it be not changed-- (Es 1:19; This immutability of the king's commands was peculiar to the Medes and Persians: it was due to their regarding him infallible as the representative of Ormuzd; it was not so among the Babylonians.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Now, O king, establish the decree - Ordain, enact, confirm it. And sign the writing - An act necessary to make it the law of the realm. That it be not changed - That, having the sign-manual of the sovereign, it might be so confirmed that it could not be changed. With that sign it became so established, it seems, that even the sovereign himself could not change it. According to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not - Margin, Passeth. Which does not pass away; which is not abrogated. A similar fact in regard to a law of the Medes and Persians is mentioned in Esther viii., in which the king was unable to recall an order which had been given for the massacre of the Jews, and in which he attempted only to counteract it as far as possible by putting the Jews on their guard, and allowing them to defend themselves. Diodorus Siculus (lib. iv.) refers to this custom where he says that Darius, the last king of Persia, would have pardoned Charidemus after he was condemned to death, but could not reverse what the law had passed against him. - Lowth. “When the king of Persia,” says Montesquieu (Spirit of Laws, as quoted by Rosenmuller, Morgenland, in loc.), “has condemned any one to death, no one dares speak to him to make intercession for him. Were he even drunk when the crime was committed, or were he insane, the command must nevertheless be executed, for the law cannot be countermanded, and the laws cannot contradict themselves. This sentiment prevails throughout Persia.” It may seem singular that such a custom prevailed, and that the king, who was the fountain of law, and whose will was law, could not change a statute at his pleasure. But this custom grew out of the opinions which prevailed in the East in regard to the monarch. […]
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּעַ֣ן | kean | now | H3705 → | 13 times |
| מַלְכָּ֔א | malka' | king O | H4430 → | 180 times |
| תְּקִ֥ים | tekim | you will establish | H6966 → | 35 times |
| אֱסָרָ֖א | ʾesara' | prohibition the | H633 → | 7 times |
| וְתִרְשֻׁ֣ם | vetirshum | so you may sign | H7560 → | 7 times |
| כְּתָבָ֑א | ketava' | writing the | H3792 → | 12 times |
| דִּ֣י | di | which | H1768 → | 345 times |
| לָ֧א | la' | not | H3809 → | 82 times |
| לְהַשְׁנָיָ֛ה | lehashnayah | to change | H8133 → | 21 times |
| כְּדָת־ | kedot- | according to [the] law of | H1882 → | 14 times |
| מָדַ֥י | madai | [the] Medes | H4076 → | 5 times |
| וּפָרַ֖ס | ufaras | and [the] Persians | H6540 → | 6 times |
| דִּי־ | di- | which | H1768 → | 345 times |
| לָ֥א | la' | not | H3809 → | 82 times |
| תֶעְדֵּֽא׃ | te'de' | it will pass away | H5709 → | 9 times |
כְּעַ֣ןnow
keanH3705 →13 times
מַלְכָּ֔אking O
malka'H4430 →180 times
תְּקִ֥יםyou will establish
tekimH6966 →35 times
אֱסָרָ֖אprohibition the
ʾesara'H633 →7 times
וְתִרְשֻׁ֣םso you may sign
vetirshumH7560 →7 times
כְּתָבָ֑אwriting the
ketava'H3792 →12 times
דִּ֣יwhich
diH1768 →345 times
לָ֧אnot
la'H3809 →82 times
לְהַשְׁנָיָ֛הto change
lehashnayahH8133 →21 times
כְּדָת־according to [the] law of
kedot-H1882 →14 times
מָדַ֥י[the] Medes
madaiH4076 →5 times
וּפָרַ֖סand [the] Persians
ufarasH6540 →6 times
דִּי־which
di-H1768 →345 times
לָ֥אnot
la'H3809 →82 times
תֶעְדֵּֽא׃it will pass away
te'de'H5709 →9 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 10:1Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,
it leads to
- Psalms 94:20–21
Can a corrupt throne be Your ally— one devising mischief by decree?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 11:52
Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
- Micah 3:1–4
Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?
- Matthew 23:23
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced…
- Psalms 94:20–21
Through
Esther 1:19So 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…
it leads to
- Esther 8:8
Now 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Samuel 15:28
So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.
- Esther 8:8
Through
Daniel 6:15Then 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.”
it leads to
- Daniel 6:12
So 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…
- Daniel 6:12
Through
Daniel 6:12So 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…
it leads to
- Daniel 3:8–12
At this time some astrologers came forward and maliciously accused the Jews,
- Daniel 3:8–12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Daniel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Daniel; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:1-15; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 3.20.3-5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER SIX and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).