²⁰ He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case.^(A)

¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.^{(A) 15} Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.”^(B)

23 While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers,^[a] up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.”^(A)

⁵ The men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”

⁶ So the administrators and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever!^{(A) 7} All the administrators of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to any god or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions.^{(B) 8} Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”^{(C) 9} Therefore King Darius signed the document and interdict.^(D)

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

¹⁰ Although Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open toward Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously.^{(E) 11} Then those men watched^[a] and found Daniel praying and seeking mercy before his God. ¹² Then they approached the king and said concerning the interdict, “O king! Did you not sign an interdict, that anyone who prays to any god or human, within thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the den of lions?” The king answered, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.”^(F)