Daniel 6:8-12

6:8 Now let the king issue a written interdict ¹  so that it cannot be altered, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed. ²  6:9 So King Darius issued the written interdict.

6:10 When Daniel realized ³  that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows ⁴  in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. ⁵  Three ⁶  times daily he was ⁷  kneeling ⁸  and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously. 6:11 Then those officials who had gone to the king ⁹  came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God. 6:12 So they approached the king and said to him, ¹⁰  “Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?” The king replied, “That is correct, ¹¹  according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.”

[6:8]  ¹ tn Aram “establish a written interdict and inscribe a written decree.”

[6:8]  ² tn Or “removed.”

[6:10]  ³ tn Aram “knew.”

[6:10]  ⁴ sn In later rabbinic thought this verse was sometimes cited as a proof text for the notion that one should pray only in a house with windows. See b. Berakhot 34b.

[6:10]  ⁵ map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:10]  ⁶ sn This is apparently the only specific mention in the OT of prayer being regularly offered three times a day. The practice was probably not unique to Daniel, however.

[6:10]  ⁷ tc Read with several medieval Hebrew MSS and printed editions הֲוָה (havah) rather than the MT הוּא (hu’).

[6:10]  ⁸ tn Aram “kneeling on his knees” (so NASB).

[6:10]  sn No specific posture for offering prayers is prescribed in the OT. Kneeling, as here, and standing were both practiced.

[6:11]  ⁹ tn Aram “those men”; the referent (the administrative officials who had earlier approached the king about the edict) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tc The MT also has “about the edict of the king,” but this phrase is absent in the LXX and the Syriac. The present translation deletes the expression.

[6:12]  tn Aram “before the king.”

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn Aram “the word is true.”