14:1-311 And Daniel was the king' s guest, and was honoured above all his friends.
The king's servants who had cast them in continued to heat the furnace with brimstone, pitch, and dry sticks ... and the fire touched them not at all. 3:49
1 And Daniel was the king' s guest, and was honoured above all his friends.
Daniel was King Cyrus's most honored guest.
2 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel: and there were spent upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and sixty vessels of wine.
The Babylonians had an idol called Bel, to whom they gave each day 12 measures of flour, 40 sheep, and 60 vessels of wine.
3 The king also worshipped him, and went every day to adore him: but Daniel adored his God. And the king said to him: Why dost thou not adore Bel?
The king worshiped Bel and asked Daniel,
Why don't you worship Bel?
4 And he answered, and said to him: Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, that created heaven and earth, and hath power over all flesh.
Daniel answered,
Because I don't worship idols that are made by humans.
5 And the king said to him: Doth not Bel seem to thee to be a living god? Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?
The king said,
Have you seen how much Bel eats and drinks each day?
6 Then Daniel smiled and said: O king, be not deceived: for this is but clay within, and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any time.
Daniel said,
He is made from clay and brass, and has never eaten anything.
7 And the king being angry called for his priests, and said to them: If you tell me not, who it is that eateth up these expenses, you shall die.
The king said to his priests,
Tell me who is eating Bel's food or I'll kill you all.
8 But if you can shew that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall die, because he hath blasphemed against Bel. And Daniel said to the king: Be it done according to thy word.
But if you prove to me that Bel eats these things, I'll kill Daniel instead.
9 Now the priests of Bel were seventy, besides their wives, and little ones, and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel.
There were 70 priests, not counting their wives and children.
10 And the priests of Bel said: Behold we go out: and do thou, O king, set on the meats, and make ready the wine, and shut the door fast, and seal it with thy own ring:
The priests said to the king,
Set out Bel's food tonight then we'll lock the door.
11 And when thou comest in the morning, if thou findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else Daniel that hath lied against us.
In the morning, if the food is gone, you'll know that Bel ate it.
If it isn't gone, you can kill us. Otherwise, Daniel lied to you.
12 And they little regarded it, because they had made under the table a secret entrance, and they always came in by it, and consumed those things.
But the priests had made a secret entrance so they could come in and eat the food and drink the wine.
13 So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king set the meats before Bel: and Daniel commanded his servants, and they brought ashes, and he sifted them all over the temple before the king: and going forth they shut the door, and having sealed it with the king' s ring, they departed.
So the king set the food out for Bel, while Daniel and his servants spread ashes over the floor of the temple.
Then they left after locking the temple door.
14 But the priests went in by night, according to their custom, with their wives and their children: and they ate and drank up all.
Later that night, the priests, with their wives and children, snuck through the secret door and ate the food and drank the wine that the king had put out for Bel.
15 And the king arose early in the morning, and Daniel with him.
16 And the king said: Are the seals whole, Daniel? And he answered: They are whole, O king.
17 And as soon as he had opened the door, the king looked upon the table, and cried out with a loud voice: Great art thou, O Bel, and there is not any deceit with thee.
The next morning, the king and Daniel came to temple and found the food and wine gone.
The king praised Bel, saying that it proved that Bel was for real.
18 And Daniel laughed: and he held the king that he should not go in: and he said: Behold the pavement, mark whose footsteps these are.
Daniel laughed and showed the king the ash footprints on the floor.
19 And the king said: I see the footsteps of men, and women, and children. And the king was angry.
The king was angry.
20 Then he took the priests, and their wives, and their children: and they shewed him the private doors by which they came in, and consumed the things that were on the table.
So he killed the priests, their wives, and their children.
21 The king therefore put them to death, and delivered Bel into the power of Daniel: who destroyed him, and his temple.
And gave Bel to Daniel, who destroyed him and his temple.
22And there was a great dragon in that place, and the Babylonians worshipped him.
The Babylonians also worshiped a great dragon.
23 And the king said to Daniel: Behold thou canst not say now, that this is not a living god: adore him therefore.
The king said to Daniel,
You can't deny that this god is real. Worship him.
24 And Daniel said: I adore the Lord my God: for he is the living God: but that is no living god.
Daniel said,
I worship my own God. And that is not a living god.
25 But give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club. And the king said: I give thee leave.
Let me kill it with a sword or club.
The king said, "OK."
26 Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon' s mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worshipped.
So Daniel took some pitch, fat, and hair and boiled them together to make some cakes.
He fed the cakes to the dragon, and the dragon burst open.
27 And when the Babylonians had heard this, they took great indignation: and being gathered together against the king, they said: The king is become a Jew. He hath destroyed Bel, he hath killed the dragon, and he hath put the priests to death.
When the Babylonians heard about it, they said to the king,
You have become a Jew.
You destroyed Bel, killed the dragon, and killed the priests.
28 And they came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house.
Give Daniel to us or we will destroy you and your house.
29 And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently: and being constrained by necessity he delivered Daniel to them.
So the king gave them Daniel.
30 And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days.
And they threw Daniel into the lions' den, where he stayed for six days.
31 And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not given unto them, that they might devour Daniel.
There were seven hungry lions in the den, ready to eat Daniel.
14:32-4232Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the field, to carry it to the reapers.
Meanwhile, a Judean prophet named Habacuc had some stew and bread.
33And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner which thou hast into Babylon to Daniel, who is in the lions' den.
An angel came to him and said, "Take your dinner to Babylon and give it to Daniel in the lions' den."
34 And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den.
Habacuc said, "I've never been to Babylon and I don't know about any den."
35And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon over the den in the force of his spirit.
So the angel grabbed Habacuc by his hair and carried him to Babylon.
36 And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee.
When Habacuc arrived he said, "Here's your dinner, Daniel."
37 And Daniel said: Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast not forsaken them that love thee.
Daniel thanked God and ate the dinner.
38And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place.
Then the angel carried Habacuc back to his home in Judea.
39 And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions.
40 And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art thou, O Lord the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions' den.
41 But those that had been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him.
42 Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den.
