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1After King Astyages joined his ancestors in death, Cyrus the Persian took over his kingdom.[#14:1 Chapter 14 is not included in the Hebrew and Aramaic text of Daniel. It is here translated from Theodotion’s Greek text.]
2Daniel was the king’s companion and was honored above all the king’s favored leaders.
3Now the Babylonians had an idol named Bel. Every day, twelve large measures of fine flour, forty sheep, and six measures of wine were offered to the idol.
4The king also adored it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God.
5So the king said to Daniel: “Why don’t you worship Bel?”
Daniel answered: “I do not worship idols made by human hands. I worship the living God, who created heaven and earth and rules over every living being.”
6The king said to him, “Don’t you think Bel is a living god? Don’t you see how much he eats and drinks every day?”
7But Daniel smirked and said: “O King, don’t be deceived, for that idol is only clay on the inside and bronze on the outside. It has never eaten or drunk anything.”
8Then the king became angry, and he called for his priests and said to them, “If you do not tell me who eats all the food, you will die.
9But if you can show that Bel eats it, Daniel will die because he has blasphemed Bel.”
And Daniel said to the king, “Let it be as you say.”
Now there were seventy priests of Bel in all, besides their wives and children.
10The king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel.
11The priests of Bel said, “See, we are leaving now. You yourself, O King, can set out the food and prepare the wine. Then lock the door and seal it with your own signet.
12If you do not find that Bel has eaten and drunk everything when you return in the morning, we will be put to death. But if Bel has eaten and drunk everything, this will prove that Daniel has lied about us and must die.”
13They were not worried because they had made a secret entrance under the altar, and they always went in that way and ate all the food themselves.
14So after the priests had left, the king set the food before Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes, and they spread them all over the temple floor while only the king watched. Then they left and shut the door, sealing it with the king’s signet.
15As usual, the priests and their wives and children went in during the night and ate and drank everything.
16The king went to the temple early in the morning, and Daniel went with him.
17The king asked, “Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?”
He answered, “They are unbroken, O King.”
18As soon as he had opened the door, the king saw that the table was empty. Then he exclaimed, “You are great, O Bel; there is not one deceitful thing about you!”
19Daniel laughed, and he kept the king from entering. “Look at the floor,” he said, “and tell me whose footprints these are.”
20The king said, “I see the footprints of men, women, and children.”
21Then the king became angry and arrested the priests and their wives and children. They showed him the secret doors through which they entered to eat the food that was on the table.
22So the king put them to death, and he gave Daniel permission to do whatever he wanted with Bel. So Daniel destroyed both the idol and its temple.
23There was also a great dragon that the Babylonians worshiped.
24The king said to Daniel, “Look, you cannot deny that this is a living god. So worship it.”
25But Daniel said, “I worship only the Lord my God, for he is the living God. With your permission, O King, I will kill this dragon without sword or club.”
26The king said, “I give you permission.”
27So Daniel took pitch, fat, and hair, and he boiled it all together. Then he made it into cakes and fed them to the dragon. After the dragon ate them, it burst open. Then Daniel said, “Look at this one you worshiped!”
28When the Babylonians heard about it, they became very angry and rebelled against the king. They said, “The king has become a Jew. He has destroyed Bel, he has killed the dragon, and he has slaughtered the priests.”
29So they went to the king and said, “Hand Daniel over to us, or we will destroy you and your household.”
30The king saw that he was in danger, so he was forced to hand Daniel over to them.
31The people threw Daniel into the lions’ den, and he was there six days.
32In the den were seven lions that were fed each day with two human bodies and two sheep. But during this time they were not fed at all to ensure that they would devour Daniel.
33Now there was a prophet named Habakkuk who lived in Judea. He had made some stew and put some bread in a basket. He was on his way to the fields to give the food to the harvesters.
34But an angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, “Take this food to Daniel in Babylon because he is in the lions’ den.”
35Habakkuk responded, “Lord, I’ve never been to Babylon, and I don’t know where to find the lions’ den.”
36Then the angel of the Lord grabbed him by the hair and carried him as fast as the wind all the way to Babylon. The angel of the Lord set him down just above the lions’ den.
37Habakkuk called out, “Daniel, Daniel! Take the meal God has sent you.”
38And Daniel said, “You have remembered me, O God. You have not abandoned those who love you.”
39So Daniel got up and ate, and the angel of the Lord immediately carried Habakkuk back to his own place.
40On the seventh day the king went to the den to mourn for Daniel. But when he arrived at the den and looked in, he saw Daniel sitting there!
41The king exclaimed, “You are great, O Lord, the God of Daniel! There is no God but you!”
42Then he pulled Daniel out, and those who had tried to destroy Daniel were thrown into the den. They were devoured in a moment as the king watched.