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mannafest.faith

Daniel 6:7

in Daniel 6

All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

KJV

All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

This verse in Daniel 6

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
All the presidents of the kingdom, the governor ... - Several functionaries are enumerated here who are not in the previous verses, as having entered into the conspiracy. It is possible, indeed, that all these different classes of officers had been consulted, and had concurred in asking the enactment of the proposed law; but it is much more probable that the leaders merely represented or affirmed what is here said in order to be more certain of the enactment of the law.

This site's exposition

King Darius, may you live forever

on Daniel 6:6-9

The plotters bring a decree that anyone who petitions “any god or man except you, O king” will be thrown to the lions. They press Darius to sign it under “the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed”, the same unchangeable law in Esther.

This site's exposition

thrown into the den of lions

Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown suspected that the officials claimed all the royal administrators had agreed when not all had. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown marked the change of penalty from a furnace in Babylon to the den of lions. They tied it to the Persians' worship of fire.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Hippolytus of Rome

Commentary on Daniel 3.20.3-5 · Written before 235.

proposed

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]

A commentator

Theodoret of Cyrus

COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:6-9 · Written before 458.

proposed

Nothing is more repugnant than envy: it pressured them into committing impiety and caused an impious decree to be published forbidding those intent on offering prayers to God; they prevented not only themselves from doing it but also all others subject to royal control.… In …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

But it was much worse, and an impudent affront to all religion, to forbid asking a petition of any god. It is by prayer that we give glory to God, fetch in mercy from God; and so keep up our communion with God; and to interdict prayer for thirty days is for so long to rob God of all the tribute he has from man and to rob man of all the comfort he has in God.
All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

They evidently exaggerated the case of the weak king, as if their request was that of all the officers in the empire. den of lions--an underground cave or pit, covered with a stone. It is an undesigned proof of genuineness, that the "fiery furnace" is not made the means of punishment here, as in Da 3:20; for the Persians were fire-worshippers, which the Babylonians were not.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Whosoever shall ask a petition - What pretense could they urge for so silly an ordinance? Probably to flatter the ambition of the king, they pretend to make him a god for thirty days; so that the whole empire should make prayer and supplication to him, and pay him Divine honors! This was the bait; but their real object was to destroy Daniel.

The words behind it

31 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אִתְיָעַ֜טוּthey took counsel together

    ʾityaatuH3272 →

  • כֹּ֣ל׀all

    kolH3606 →82 times

  • סָרְכֵ֣י[the] overseers of

    sarekheiH5632 →5 times

  • מַלְכוּתָ֗אkingdom the

    malkhuta'H4437 →57 times

  • סִגְנַיָּ֤אprefects the

    signaiya'H5460 →5 times

  • וַֽאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנַיָּא֙and satraps the

    vaachashdarpenaiya'H324 →9 times

  • הַדָּֽבְרַיָּ֣אcounselors the

    hadaveraiya'H1907 →4 times

  • וּפַחֲוָתָ֔אand governors the

    ufachavata'H6347 →10 times

  • לְקַיָּמָ֤הto establish

    lekaiyamahH6966 →35 times

  • קְיָם֙[the] statute of

    keyamH7010 →

  • מַלְכָּ֔אking the

    malka'H4430 →180 times

  • וּלְתַקָּפָ֖הand to make stringent

    uletakafahH8631 →5 times

  • אֱסָ֑רa prohibition

    ʾesarH633 →7 times

  • דִּ֣יthat

    diH1768 →345 times

  • כָל־every

    khol-H3606 →82 times

  • דִּֽי־[one] who

    di-H1768 →345 times

  • יִבְעֵ֣הhe will ask

    yivehH1156 →12 times

  • בָ֠עוּa petition

    vauH1159 →

  • מִן־from

    min-H4481 →109 times

  • כָּל־any

    kol-H3606 →82 times

  • אֱלָ֨הּgod

    ʾelahH426 →95 times

  • וֶֽאֱנָ֜שׁand person

    veenashH606 →25 times

  • עַד־until

    ʾad-H5705 →35 times

  • יוֹמִ֣יןdays

    yominH3118 →16 times

  • תְּלָתִ֗יןthirty

    telatinH8533 →

  • לָהֵן֙except

    lahenH3861 →7 times

  • מִנָּ֣ךְfrom you

    minakhH4481 →109 times

  • מַלְכָּ֔אking O

    malka'H4430 →180 times

  • יִתְרְמֵ֕אhe will be thrown

    yitreme'H7412 →12 times

  • לְגֹ֖בto [the] den of

    legoH1358 →10 times

  • אַרְיָוָתָֽא׃lions the

    ʾaryavata'H744 →10 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Daniel 3:27

    and 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,…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 43:2

      When 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;…

    • Hebrews 11:34

      quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

  • Through

    Psalms 59:3

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

    it leads to

    • Psalms 56:6

      They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

    • Psalms 69:4

      Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me— my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.

    • 1 Samuel 24:11

      See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. See and know that there is no evil or rebellion…

  • Through

    Daniel 3:6

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

    it leads to

    • Matthew 13:50

      and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    • Matthew 13:42

      And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    • Jeremiah 29:22

      Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’

Where this verse is studied

About Daniel

Daniel in the Lions' Den — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Daniel in the Lions' Den — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Daniel; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel; Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 3.20.3-5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:6-9.