Daniel in a Lions’ Den

Title ideas:The eternal living God rescues Daniel from jealous officials and hungry lions.Daniel rules well, obeying God.Daniel trusts God to protect him.

One night, King Belshazzar [King over Babylon] saw a hand writing words on a wall in his palace. That night, armies from Media and Persia killed him. A man from Media named Darius became the new ruler over Babylon.

King Darius chose three men to be chiefs over 120 high officials from the provinces in [countries that belonged to] his kingdom [empire]. One of those three chiefs was Daniel [a Jew / Israelite].

When Darius saw that Daniel was the best chief, he decided to make Daniel an official [administrator / ruler / chief] over his whole kingdom.

The other chiefs [were jealous, so they] sought [tried] to show that Daniel was a poor [bad] chief. But they could not find anything wrong with Daniel’s work.

Daniel was honest and trustworthy [dependable], so those other chiefs decided to find something wrong with Daniel’s faith in [and obedience to] the Great God.

Those chiefs went to talk to the king. They said to him, “We chiefs request that you make a decree [law]. Please proclaim [say] that no one may pray to any god or man, except you, for 30 days.

“Please proclaim that, if any one disobeys your decree, soldiers will throw that person into a lions’ den [cave / pit] [to be eaten by the lions and die]!”Darius agreed with the officials, so he wrote the decree.

Daniel learned [heard] that the king had written the decree. [But Daniel disobeyed the decree.] Daniel went to his own house and opened a window that faced Jerusalem [in Israel].

There, Daniel prayed to the Lord, asked him for wisdom, and gave him thanks. This was what Daniel did three times every day.

After the officials saw Daniel pray to the Lord, they went and told this to the king. They said,

“O King, Daniel violates [breaks] your decree. He pray to his god every day. You must punish Daniel! “Remember, O King. No one may change the king’s decree [law]!”

The king did not want to punish Daniel, but he had to punish him.

So the king ordered his soldiers, “Go arrest [capture] Daniel and throw him into the lions’ den [cave / pit]!”But the king said, “Daniel, you serve your God faithfully. Let us see if [I hope] your God will rescue you from the lions!”

The king ordered his soldiers, “Put a large stone over the opening [doorway] to the lion’s den!”He then put a seal [his own sign in wax or clay] on the stone, so that nobody would try to remove it.

That night, the king ate no food. He remained alone, and he did not sleep.

Next day at sunrise [dawn], the king hurried and went to the lions’ den. There, he shouted, “Daniel! Did your God rescue you from the lions?”

Daniel shouted back, “Yes! My God sent an angel who protected me from the lions. He did so, because I have done no wrong to him nor to you, O King!”

The king felt [was] glad. He ordered [told] his soldiers, “Open the den and bring out Daniel!”

Next he ordered his soldiers, “Go arrest the other chiefs! Bring them here and throw them into the lion’s den!”When the soldiers did so, the lions quickly jumped on them and ate them [alive.]

After that, King Darius wrote another decree and sent it to every part [country] in his kingdom, written in many languages.He wrote, “Everyone must show respect to the God whom Daniel worships [serves].

“He is the living God who rules over all kingdoms, everywhere, forever! He does mighty actions in heaven and on earth! He even rescued Daniel from many hungry lions!”