King James Version · The Persian return
Daniel 6
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It pleased to set over an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents; of whom was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against concerning ; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was , neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this , except we find it against him concerning of his . Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King , live for ever. All the presidents of , the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal , and to make a firm , that whosoever shall ask a petition of any or man for thirty days, of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the , and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to of the and , which altereth not. Wherefore king signed the writing and the . Now when knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward , he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and , and gave thanks before his , as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled, and found praying and making before his . Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s ; Hast thou not signed a , that every man that shall ask a petition of any or man within thirty days, of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to of the and , which altereth not. Then answered they and said before the king, That , which is of the children of of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set on to him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to him. Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that of the and is, That no nor which the king establisheth may be changed. Then the king commanded, and they brought , and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto , Thy whom thou servest continually, he will thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning . Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night : neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto : and the king spake and said to , O , the living , is thy , whom thou servest continually, able to thee from the lions? Then said unto the king, O king, live for ever. My hath sent his , and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take up out of the den. So was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he in his . And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused , and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. Then king wrote unto all people, nations, and , that in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a , That in every of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the of : for he is the living , and stedfast for ever, and that which shall not be destroyed, and his shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in and in earth, who hath from the of the lions. So this prospered in the reign of , and in the reign of the .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.