Daniel in the Lions' Den

Daniel serves King Darius with such an excellent spirit that the king plans to set him over the whole realm. Jealous princes and presidents search for any fault in him and find none -- so they lay a trap built on the one thing they know he will never abandon. They flatter Darius into signing a decree that no one may petition any god or man for thirty days, save the king, on pain of the lions' den. Daniel hears that the writing is signed, goes to his chamber with his windows open toward Jerusalem, and prays three times a day, as he did aforetime.

Caught in prayer and accused, Daniel is cast into the den despite the king's grief, for the law of the Medes and Persians cannot be changed. A stone seals the mouth of the den, and Darius passes a sleepless night, fasting. At dawn the king runs to the den and cries out -- and Daniel answers: my God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths. Daniel is taken up without a scratch, his accusers meet the fate they planned for him, and Darius decrees that all men fear the living God.