Daniel 6:9
in Daniel 6Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the interdict.
KJV
Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.
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This verse in Daniel 6
Commentary
4 notes on this verseWherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree. Moved to it by the number and importunity of his principal men; and chiefly through affectation of deity, which this law gave him; and that he might have an opportunity of ingratiating himself into his new subjects by his munificence and liberality, not being aware of the snare laid for his favourite, Daniel.
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 Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
), which, being once done, according to the constitution of the united kingdom of the Medes and Persians, was not upon any pretence whatsoever to be altered or dispensed with, or the breach of it pardoned.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Such a despotic decree is quite explicable by remembering that the king, as the incarnation of Ormuzd, might demand such an act of religious obedience as a test of loyalty. Persecuting laws are always made on false pretenses.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | as to | ||
| קֳבֵ֖ל | kovel | because | H6903 → | 29 times |
| דְּנָ֑ה | denah | this | H1836 → | 58 times |
| מַלְכָּא֙ | malka' | king the | H4430 → | 180 times |
| דָּֽרְיָ֔וֶשׁ | dareyavesh | Darius | H1868 → | 15 times |
| רְשַׁ֥ם | resham | he signed | H7560 → | 7 times |
| כְּתָבָ֖א | ketava' | writing the | H3792 → | 12 times |
| וֶאֱסָרָֽא׃ | veesara' | and prohibition the | H633 → | 7 times |
כָּל־as to
kol-
קֳבֵ֖לbecause
kovelH6903 →29 times
דְּנָ֑הthis
denahH1836 →58 times
מַלְכָּא֙king the
malka'H4430 →180 times
דָּֽרְיָ֔וֶשׁDarius
dareyaveshH1868 →15 times
רְשַׁ֥םhe signed
reshamH7560 →7 times
כְּתָבָ֖אwriting the
ketava'H3792 →12 times
וֶאֱסָרָֽא׃and prohibition the
veesara'H633 →7 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
Psalms 146:3Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
it leads to
- Psalms 118:8–9
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
- Jeremiah 17:5–6
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Isaiah 2:22
Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
- Psalms 108:12
Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
- Psalms 118:8–9
Through
Isaiah 2:22Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Psalms 146:3
Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- Jeremiah 17:5
Through
Proverbs 6:2if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
it leads to
- Proverbs 18:7
A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
- Proverbs 12:13
An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech, but a righteous man escapes from trouble.
- Proverbs 18:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Daniel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Daniel; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.