Some men speak to the king against Daniel
6:1Daniel was an old man then, but he was still working for the king.
1 King Darius decided to choose 120 men to rule the regions of his nation. Together, they would rule the whole kingdom. 2 He also chose three other men to be his officers. He gave them authority over the 120 rulers. The king wanted to be sure that they were working well. Daniel was one of the three officers. 3 Daniel did his work much better than the other officers and rulers. He was very good at his job. Daniel was so good that the king wanted to make him ruler over the whole kingdom.
4 The other officers and rulers were jealous. They wanted to find something bad about Daniel so that they could tell the king. They watched how Daniel worked to serve the king. But they could not find that he did any wrong thing. That was because Daniel was good and honest. He always did everything properly. 5 Then these men said to each other, ‘We cannot find anything that Daniel does wrong in his work. We must find something that he does to obey the laws of his God.’
6 So the officers and rulers agreed together what they would do. They went to the king and they said, ‘King Darius, live for ever! 7 All the officers in the kingdom have decided on a good idea. All the rulers, the judges, the wise people, and the leaders in the different regions agree. We think that the king should make a strong law. For 30 days, people must pray only to you, the king. If they pray to any other person or god, you must punish them. Your servants must throw them into the cave where your lions live. 8 You should write down this law and then you should write your name on it, as king. Then it will be a law of the Medes and the Persians which nobody can change.’
9 King Darius agreed. He wrote his name on this new law.
6:9After the king made a law, nobody could change it. That was the law of the Medes and Persians.
