Daniel 6:16

Schlachter Bibel

Da befahl der König, daß man Daniel herbringe und in den Löwenzwinger werfe. Der König hob an und sprach zu Daniel: Dein Gott, dem du ohne Unterlaß dienst, der rette dich!

Parallel Translations

Lutherbible (1912)
Da befahl der König, daß man Daniel herbrächte; und sie warfen ihn zu den Löwen in den Graben. Der König aber sprach zu Daniel: Dein Gott, dem du ohne Unterlaß dienst, der helfe dir!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the king: 2 Samuel 3:39, Proverbs 29:25, Jeremiah 26:14, Jeremiah 38:5, Matthew 14:8-10, Matthew 27:23-26, Mark 6:25-28, Mark 15:14, Mark 15:15, John 19:12-16, Acts 24:27, Acts 25:9, Acts 25:11, Romans 13:3

Thy God: Daniel 6:20, Daniel 3:15, Daniel 3:17, Daniel 3:28, Job 5:19, Psalms 37:39, Psalms 37:40, Psalms 91:14-16, Psalms 118:8, Psalms 118:9, Isaiah 43:2, Acts 27:23, Acts 27:24

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 18:29 - Let not Isaiah 44:17 - Deliver me Jeremiah 39:17 - I will Daniel 3:23 - fell Malachi 3:15 - they that tempt Acts 10:2 - and prayed Acts 16:17 - the servants Acts 16:39 - and brought Revelation 7:3 - the servants

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the king commanded,.... Being overawed by his princes and fearing they would conspire against him, and stir up the people to rebel; and consulting his own credit lest he should be thought fickle and inconstant; he ordered the decree to be put in execution against Daniel, and delivered his favourite into their hands:

and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions; not the princes but proper officers employed by them: according to the additions to this book of Daniel, there were seven lions in this den, in the Apocrypha:

"And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given them every day two carcases, and two sheep: which then were not given to them, to the intent they might devour Daniel.'' (Bel 1:32)

but, according to Joseph ben Gorion g, there were ten, who used to devour ten sheep, and as many human bodies every day; but this day they had no food, and ate nothing, that they might be more greedy, and devour Daniel the sooner:

now the king spake and said unto Daniel; being brought into his presence, in his palace, before he was cast into the den; or at the mouth of the den whither the king accompanied him:

thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee; he calls the Lord Daniel's God, not his own, as he was not, he served other gods; yet he suggests that Daniel was right in serving him continually, in praying to him daily, the very thing for which he was cast to the lions; and expresses his confidence that his God he served would deliver him from being devoured by them; which he might conclude, from, the innocency, integrity, and faithfulness of Daniel, and from his being such a peculiar favourite of God as to be indulged with the knowledge of future things; and perhaps he might have heard of the deliverance of his three companions from the fiery furnace: though the words may be rendered, as they are by some, as a wish or prayer, "may thy God c. deliver thee" h I cannot, I pray he would; it is my hearty desire that so it might be.

g Hist. Heb. l. 1. c. 10. p. 34. h ישזבנך "liberet te", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Grotius, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then the king commanded ... - See the note at Daniel 6:7. Some recent discoveries among the ruins of Babylon have shown that the mode of punishment by throwing offenders against the laws to lions was actually practiced there, and these discoveries may be classed among the numerous instances in which modern investigations have tended to confirm the statements in the Bible. Three interesting figures illustrating this fact may be seen in the Pictorial Bible, vol. iii. p. 232. The first of those figures, from a block of stone, was found at Babylon near the great mass of ruin that is supposed to mark the site of the grand western palace. It represents a lion standing over the body of a prostrate man, extended on a pedestal which measures nine feet in length by three in breadth. The head has been lately knocked off; but when Mr. Rich saw it, the statue was in a perfect state, and he remarks that “the mouth had a circular aperture into which a man might introduce his fist.” The second is from an engraved gem, dug from the ruins of Babylon by Captain Mignan. It exhibits a man standing on two sphinxes, and engaged with two fierce animals, possibly intended for lions. The third is from a block of white marble found near the tomb of Daniel at Susa, and thus described by Sir Robert Ker Porter in his Travels (vol. ii. p. 416): “It does not exceed ten inches in width and depth, measures twenty in length, and is hollow within, as if to receive some deposit. Three of its sides are cut in bass-relief, two of them with similar representations of a man apparently naked, except a sash round his waist, and a sort of cap on his head. His hands are bound behind him. The corner of the stone forms the neck of the figure, so that its head forms one of its ends. Two lions in sitting postures appear on either side at the top, each having a paw on the head of the man.” See Pict. Bible, in loc.

Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God ... - What is here stated is in accordance with what is said in Daniel 6:14, that the king sought earnestly to deliver Daniel from the punishment. He had entire confidence in him, and he expressed that to the last. As to the question of probability whether Darius, a pagan, would attempt to comfort Daniel with the hope that he would be delivered, and would express the belief that this would be done by that God whom he served, and in whose cause he was about to be exposed to peril, it may be remarked,

(1) That it was a common thing among the pagan to believe in the interposition of the gods in favor of the righteous, and particularly in favor of their worshippers. See Homer, passim. Hence, it was that they called on them; that they committed themselves to them in battle and in peril; that they sought their aid by sacrifices and by prayers. No one can doubt that such a belief prevailed, and that the mind of Darius, in accordance with the prevalent custom, might be under its influence.

(2) Darius, undoubtedly, in accordance with the prevailing belief, regarded the God whom Daniel worshipped as a god, though not as exclusively the true God. He had the same kind of confidence in him that he had in any god worshipped by foreigners - and probably regarded him as the tutelary divinity of the land of Palestine, and of the Hebrew people. As he might consistently express this belief in reference to any foreign divinity, there is no improbability that he would in reference to the God worshipped by Daniel.

(3) He had the utmost confidence both in the integrity and the piety of Daniel; and as he believed that the gods interposed in human affairs, and as he saw in Daniel an eminent instance of devotedness to his God, he did not doubt that in such a case it might be hoped that he would save him.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 16. Then the king commanded — With a heavy heart he was obliged to warrant this murderous conspiracy. But when passing sentence his last words were affecting: "Thy God, whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee." He is thy God; thou servest him, not occasionally, but continually; therefore "he will deliver thee." Daniel had now the same kind of opportunity of showing his fidelity to God, as his three Hebrew companions before. The lions were not less terrible than the fiery furnace.