² He then summoned the satraps,^(A) prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials^(B) to come to the dedication of the image he had set up.

²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers^(A) crowded around them.^(B) They saw that the fire^(C) had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

⁶ So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever!^{(A) 7} The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors^(B) have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.^(C)

Daniel in the Den of Lions

6 ^[a]It pleased Darius^(A) to appoint 120 satraps^(B) to rule throughout the kingdom, ² with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel.^(C) The satraps were made accountable^(D) to them so that the king might not suffer loss. ³ Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.^{(E) 4} At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges^(F) against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

³² He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth^(A) month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel,^(B) sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.

The Death of Samson

²³ Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon^(A) their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

² who invited them to the sacrifices^(A) to their gods.^(B) The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.

⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol^(A) cast in the shape of a calf,^(B) fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,^[a](C) Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”^(D)

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival^(E) to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings.^(F) Afterward they sat down to eat and drink^(G) and got up to indulge in revelry.^(H)